OBJECTIVE- To measure plasma HSP70 concentration in cardiac surgical patients during preoperative, on Cardiopulmonary bypass and in postoperative periods to quantify the extent of cellular stress.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. A total of 60 cardiac patients undergoing revascularization or valve surgery on Cardiopulmonary bypass between July 2012 and Jan 2013, were included in the study after seeking approval by hospital ethical committee. Informed consent was taken from all enrolled patients.They were randomly divided and double blinded for intravenous administration of one gram of methylprednisolone (Group ‘M’) or no treatment group (Group ‘O’). Intra operative data includes total duration of surgery, cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic cross clamping time. Four venous blood samples were taken, one before induction of anaesthesia, second sample on CPB (approx within half an hour), third sample after one hour of weaning from CPB and fourth sample on post operative day one i.e. at 24 hours.

The samples from group M (patients treated with methyl prednisolone) showed a significant increase in the expression of HSP70 in the samples which were taken after the initiation of CPB (HSP2) (p-value = 0.01) and in the sample drawn at one hour off CPB (HSP3). (p-value=0.02).However levels of HSP in group M and group O (patients not treated with Methylprednisolone) were similar at all time intervals during the study. Our study thus failed to show methyl prednisolone led to rise of HSP70