Postoperative pulmonary complications in calves after implantation of an electric total artificial heart

In long-term studies testing the Penn State Total Artificial Heart involving 30 calves, seven calves died of pulmonary complications within 2 weeks after receiving the implant (Group 1 [G1]) and seven calves survived from 2 weeks to 3 months without infection (Group 2 [G2]). Comparative studies were performed using multiple variables: cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time, cardiac index, central venous pressure, leukocyte count, hematocrit, total protein, albumin, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), creatinine, water balance, and transfused blood volume. In G1, CPB time was longer than in G2 (182 ± 19 vs 156 ± 17 minutes, respectively, p = 0.018). Postoperative minimum total protein and albumin in G1 were lower than those in G2 (56.5% ± 6.0% and 59.0% ± 5.5% of preoperative values vs 68.4% ± 8.5% and 67.8% ± 6.1%, respectively, p = 0.011 and 0.015). Water balance in G2 was more positive than in G1 (11.7 ± 6.8 vs 1.4 ± 8.3 L, respectively, p = 0.020). Other variables showed no significant differences. Microscopic findings of the lung in G1 were congestion, hemorrhage, aggregation of neutrophils, and proteinaceous material within the interstitial tissues and alveoli.