"Post Pump Syndrome"— A Variant of Post Transfusion Hepatitis?:  Incidence of Post Pump Syndrome and Post Transfusion Hepatitis

A retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate the incidence of post transfusion hepatitis (PTH), and of post pump syndrome (PPS), and to determine whether clinical PTH occurs in children after open heart surgery. Data of 200 consecutive patients with acquired and congenital heart diseases, whose lesions were corrected with the aid of extracorporeal circulation, were reviewed. In an additional 81 patients, 75 of whom had preoperative liver function tests, none of the six patients with abnormal test results developed PTH or PPS. No patient under age 16 revealed evidence of PTH. The incidence of PPS below age 16 (11%) is similar to the incidence of PTH above age 16 (15%). The data suggest that PPS represents a subclinical form of PTH. No deaths from PTH were observed. Chronic hepatitis exists in four patients: one age 32 and three are over 40. The PTH represents a significant cause of morbidity following