pump head

n. a loss of mental acuity after heart surgery. Subjects: English, Health, Medical

1 Comment | Cites | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Citations: 1996 [Blackie Lawless] Usenet: sci.med.nursing (Aug. 11) “Re: My husband had CABG -HELP!”: He is experiencing pump psychosis, or as we call it in the business “pump head.” 1999 Jerome Groopman New Yorker (Jan. 11) “Heart Surgery, Unplugged: Coronary Bypass Without Stopping the Heart” p. 43: From thirty to fifty per cent of patients will experience a syndrome Cohn calls “pump head,” in which they suffer significant cognitive deficits: memory loss, inability to concentrate, difficulties in recognizing patterns, and an inability to perform basic calculations. 2000 Sandeep Jauhar New York Times (Sept. 19) “Saving the Heart Can Sometimes Mean Losing the Memory” p. F1: The syndrome is so pervasive that heart surgeons and cardiologists have coined a term for it: pump head. Some even go so far as to encourage some patients to seek other remedies for their heart disease. 2004 Los Angeles Times (Oct. 4) “Heal the heart, hurt the mind?”: Clinton stands a good chance of fully rebounding from the bypass surgery, in which doctors replace clogged arteries to the heart with veins and arteries taken from elsewhere in the body. But many people who undergo the procedure…find that their brains don’t function as well as they did before.…In the medical world, this effect is commonly referred to as “pump head,” reflecting the widespread, though unproven, belief that the condition is caused by the heart-lung machine.

Posted 4 Oct 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

I underwent open heart surgery for a valve replacement almost five years ago. I have experienced all the symptoms mentioned plus. I cried reading about “pump head” and the Duke study. I have told doctors and social security of these symptoms for about four and a half years. Most think you are crazy and most have blamed the symptoms on diabetes. It is freeing to see in print that I am one of many. I don’t feel that I have dementia or have become stupid but I do feel that there are many things I can no longer do. If I could do it over I would still have the surgery…I really had no choice but I would certainly discuss the “rewarming” process thoroughly before proceeding.

by Patricia McManus 27 May 08, 0158 GMT