BACKGROUND: Perfusion strategies during aortic surgery usually comprise hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA), often combined with selective antegrade cerebral perfusion (SACP) or retrograde cerebral perfusion. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is a fundamental parameter for which the optimal level has not been clearly defined. We sought to determine the CBF at a pump flow level of 6 mL/kg/min, previously shown likely to provide adequate SACP at 20°C in pigs.

METHODS: Repeated positron emission tomography (PET) scans were used to quantify the CBF and glucose metabolism throughout HCA and SACP including cooling and rewarming. Eight pigs on cardiopulmonary bypass were assigned to either HCA alone (n = 4) or HCA+SACP (n = 4). The CBF was measured by repeated [(15)O]water PET scans from baseline to rewarming. The cerebral glucose metabolism was examined by [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET scans after rewarming to 37°C.

RESULTS: Cooling to 20°C decreased the cortical CBF from 0.31 ± 0.06 at baseline to 0.10 ± 0.02 mL/cm(3)/min (p = 0.008). The CBF was maintained stable by SACP of 6 mL/kg/min during 45 minutes. After rewarming to 37°C, the mean CBF increased to 0.24 ± 0.07 mL/cm(3)/min, without significant differences between the groups at any time-point exclusive of the HCA period. The net cortical uptake (Ki) of [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose after rewarming showed no significant difference between the groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Cooling autoregulated the CBF to 0.10 mL/cm(3)/min, and 45 minutes of SACP at 6 mL/kg/min maintained the CBF in the present model. Cerebral glucose metabolism after rewarming was similar in the study groups.