{"id":132,"date":"2007-08-21T09:07:20","date_gmt":"2007-08-21T14:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2007\/08\/21\/pumphead-and-cardiac-depression\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T10:12:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:12:30","slug":"pumphead-and-cardiac-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2007\/08\/21\/pumphead-and-cardiac-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Pumphead And Cardiac Depression: What Should Patients Know?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ll never forget the first time I heard the phrase “Pumphead”. I was interviewing a former patient about her heart valve surgery experience for my book.<\/p>\n

She was discussing the short-term mental impact of open heart bypass surgery. Specifically, she was remembering a challenging time during her recovery when she suffered from cardiac depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The former patient ended the discussion by saying, “Oh well. I guess I was just a pumphead.”<\/p>\n

I did a double-take… “Pumphead?” I thought to myself, “What is pump head?”<\/p>\n

It was easy for me to relate to the concept of cardiac depression. Following open heart surgery, I had my own, tough bout with the cardiac depression.<\/p>\n

I immediately wondered, “Could it be that cardiac depression is caused by the heart-lung machine<\/a>? Is that the pumphead stimulant?”<\/p>\n

I did some research.<\/p>\n

What Is Pumphead?<\/h2>\n

It turns out that researchers from Duke University were the first to document the existence of the post-operative condition, known as pumphead. The clinical term for pumphead is cognitive impairment after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).<\/p>\n

According to the Duke researchers, symptoms of pumphead include:<\/p>\n