Between December 1992-October 1995, 38 patients (group I) under 10 kg of weight, underwent open heart surgery due to complex cardiac pathologiecs in our clinic. The postoperative results of the intraoperative ultrafiltration performed on these patients were compared with 25 control group patients (group II) who underwent open heart surgery before 1992 with similar pathologies. The haemotocrit values before and after cardiopulmonary bypass, the duration of intubation and intensive care period, the need of postoperatively inotropic support in 48 hours and blood transfusion in these two groups were compared and statistically significant differences were concluded (p < 0.05). Moreover, in group I low cardiac output was not seen in any on the patients whereas in group II peritoneal dialysis was performed on 6 patients and 4 of them died, due to multiple organ failure.
In conclusion, this study has shown that intraoperative ultrafiltration plays a very important role in decreasing the rate of morbidity and mortality in especially infant and newborn patients who underwent open heart surgery due to complex cardiac pathologies.