Multiple organ dysfunction after heart valve replacement.

Abstract

Multiple organ dysfunction (MOD) after valve replacement was studied in a period of 1980-1991. The incidences of MOD involving 2, 3 and 4 organs were 17.1%, 5.6% and 4.3% with corresponding mortalities of 12%, 18.5% and 76.2%. We focused on dysfunction of more than 3 organs, the dreadful complication, which can be divided clinically into three types: acute (type I), deteriorating (type II), and pulmonary infection (type III). In MOD, the function of heart and lung is primarily depressed after surgery. So the predisposing factors of MOD are acute pump failure and hypoxemia, and the possible triggering factor is infection, especially pulmonary infection, which re-endangers the organs recovering from the primary blows. Thus prevention of pulmonary infection is of same importance as treatment of pump failure and hypoxemia.