Cerebral blood flow changes during rat cardiopulmonary bypass and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest model: A preliminary study

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) are important techniques often used in complex cardiac surgery for neonates and infants heart diseases. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) serves as an important physiological parameter and provides valuable hemodynamic information during the surgery. Laser speckle imaging (LSI), as an optical imaging technique, can provide full-field CBF information with a high spatiotemporal resolution. In this preliminary study, we acquired the real-time CBF images with a self-developed miniaturized head-mounted LSI system during the whole CPBillHCA rat model. Relative CBF velocity in veins and arteries in bilateral hemispheres dropped significantly during cooling period and reached to nearly zero during arrest period (n = 5). More interestingly, two rats showing more dramatic CBF variations in veins than in arteries during cooling period exhibited severe cerebral edema after surgery. The real-time full-field CBF imaging during the CPBillHCA surgery could add more insights into the operation and be utilized to study the surgical protocols with the ultimate goal ofreducing neurologic injury after surgery.