title: Fate of fibrin sealant in pericardial space.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although fibrin sealant (Beriplast, Aventis Behring, Marburg, Germany) has been widely used as a supplementary measure for hemostasis during cardiac surgery in Europe and is becoming popular in the United States, the pharmocokinetics of fibrin sealant applied in pericardial space has not been elucidated.
  
  
  METHODS
  A small incision was made on the epicardial surface of the left ventricle of a rat, and the incision was sutured. Total 0.2 ml of fibrin sealant containing iodine 125 (125I)-labeled fibrinogen, aprotinin, blood coagulation factor XIII and thrombin was applied to the area around the suture line.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Distributions of 125I-labeled fibrinogen in the heart on postoperative days 1, 3, 7, and 14 were 48.2% +/- 1.8%, 20.7% +/- 2.2%, 0.15% +/- 0.02%, and 0.01% +/- 0.02%, respectively. The radioactivity was negligible in the blood, liver, spleen, and kidney except for the thyroid in which the radioactivity increased to 7.9% +/- 0.7% and 4.3% +/- 0.4%, respectively, on postoperative days 7 and 14. Iodine 125-labeled fibrinogen concentrations of the heart and other organs showed a similar change in the time course of distribution. Dense and thick fibrin network, observed on postoperative day 1, had dissipated and was thinner with collagen formation by postoperative day 7.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fibrin sealant applied to the pericardial cavity regresses rapidly and plays an important role in wound healing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kansai Medical University, Moriguchi City, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Otani
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Omiya
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tabata
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osako
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imamura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015718:Fibrin Tissue Adhesive / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010496:Pericardium / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015718:Fibrin Tissue Adhesive