Open AccessAttenuation of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow During Memory Processing After Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
Author(s) -
Rajendra D. Badgaiyan,
Steven Weise,
David S. Wack,
Marcos F. Vidal Melo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
anesthesia and analgesia/anesthesia and analgesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.404
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1526-7598
pISSN - 0003-2999
DOI - 10.1213/ane.0000000000000334
Subject(s) - medicine , cerebral blood flow , artery , bypass grafting , temporal lobe , cardiology , memory impairment , blood flow , positron emission tomography , coronary artery bypass surgery , cardiac surgery , bypass surgery , anesthesia , surgery , radiology , cognition , epilepsy , psychiatry
Reports of memory impairment after cardiac surgery are controversial. To address this controversy, we used positron emission tomography to examine changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during memory processing before and after elective coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. In postoperative scans, we observed significantly reduced rCBF in 2 of the most important memory processing areas: the medial temporal lobe (P = 0.023) and the prefrontal cortex (P = 0.002). The results suggest postoperative attenuation of rCBF in brain areas involved in memory processing. These reductions could be used to evaluate severity of memory impairment after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery in patients at risk.