Artin Shoukas, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering, physiology and anesthesiology and critical care medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, the main investigator, had undergone coronary bypass surgery himself. From his personal experience, he stated, "I'm a chocoholic, and after my bypass surgery everything tasted awful, and chocolate tasted like charcoal for months."
Shoukas and Caitlin Thompson-Torgerson, postdoctoral fellow in anesthesiology and critical care medicine, felt that Cyclohexanone, a chemical commonly used in the production of plastic devices like intravenous (IV) bags and catheters may be the reason for the side effects.
Details of the study
Shoukas and his team took liquid samples from IV bags and bypass machines before they were used on patients. They then analyzed the fluids in a machine to spot the unknown chemical and found the liquid contained cyclohexanone.
The researchers concluded that the cyclohexanone may have leaked from the plastic. Although the amount of cyclohexanone present varied greatly, it was nevertheless present to some degree. The scientists assumed that the chemical in plastic hospital tubing used to circulate fluid may be the reason for problems like loss in taste, memory as well swelling and fatigue.
Practical Experiment
The researchers then injected rats with a salt solution or a salt solution containing cyclohexanone and monitored the functions of the heart.
It was observed that rats injected with only salt solution pumped approximately 200 micro-litres of blood per heartbeat. They had an average heart rate of 358 beats per minute, while rats injected with cyclohexanone pumped only about 150 micro-liters of blood per heartbeat with an average heart rate of 287 beats per minute.
The researchers calculated that cyclohexanone weakened the heart beat by 50 percent in rats. Another factor highlighted was that because of cycloexznone, the reflexes controlling and maintaining blood pressure were less sensitive and the rats demonstrated increased fluid retention and swelling.
The study may have implications for the manufacturers of medical plastics. The researchers hope to find a way to reduce the persistent effects of the chemical when cyclohexanone penetrates from plastic hospital tubing.
Shoukas however admitted that they would not encourage patients to turn down the necessary treatment required. "On the contrary, such technologies are life-saving medical advances, and their benefits still far outweigh the risks of the associated side effects.
“As scientists, we are simply trying to understand how the side effects are triggered and what the best method will be to mitigate, and ultimately remedy, these morbidities.”
These findings appeared online this week in the American Journal of Physiology.
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