Steroids shown to hurt, not help, patients in bypass surgery

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A longstanding practice of giving steroids to patients during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery to reduce inflammation failed to help patients and actually increased the risk of heart attacks, according to results of a large clinical trial. "This study shows that administering steroids during cardiac surgery requiring bypass can cause harm," said Dr. Richard Whitlock, a cardiologist with McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who led the international trial. "Based on these results, we suggest that steroids should not be used prophylactically during cardiac surgeries that require the use of cardiopulmonary bypass." Whitlock, who presented his findings on Monday at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in Washington, estimated that 25 percent of patients undergoing open heart surgery in the North America are given steroids.



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