Rapid Rewarming During Cardiopulmonary Bypass Is Associated With Cerebral Injury

Hori and colleagues [1] investigated rewarming strategies in cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and their relationship with plasma levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a serum protein generated by ischemic or necrotic cerebral astrocytes, or both. These investigators conducted measurements of GFAP before and immediately after CPB, with the stated goal to correlate CPB perfusion temperature and rate of rewarming with release of this biomarker. GFAP is a sensitive marker for cerebral injury whose advantage over S100β and neuron-specific enolase is that its specificity is not influenced by extracranial contamination.