The probability of a successful outcome of a cardiac surgery depends not only on the skill of the surgeons and the patient's condition, but also on the growth of the patient. The higher the patient - the more likely the surgeons to succeed.

As found by researchers from the Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery in Buenos Aires, a decrease in patient's growth relative to the average for every 10 centimeters reduces the likelihood of a successful outcome of an operation with artificial circulation by 30 percent. These data were obtained by analyzing the medical records of 2475 patients undergoing surgical treatment for coronary heart disease (aorto-coronary bypass) in 12 Argentine medical centers.

So far, scientists can not say why the patient's growth is such an important factor that determines the outcome of a surgical operation. The authors of this study put forward two hypotheses that make it possible to explain this phenomenon.

First, the size of his heart and coronary arteries depend on the growth of a person, that is, the degree of complexity of the surgical intervention - the smaller the growth and the size of the heart, the more difficult it is to perform shunting. Secondly, the growth determines the intensity of the systemic circulation - the smaller it is, the less the volume rate of blood flow through the heart and the more difficult it is to maintain adequate artificial circulation.

Medicus. En.

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