ABSTRACT
The development of the heart-lung machine, which enables surgery to be performed while the patient’s heart is stopped, revolutionized cardiac surgery. This chapter traces the history of the development of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and the dramatic increase in the number of cardiac surgical procedures performed. It speciWcally examines the impact that coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery with CPB has on cognitive function. The potential mechanisms by which neuropsychological (NP) changes occur are explored, and techniques that have been studied to lessen the impact of this procedure on the brain are discussed.
