Health Sciences · Hospital for Sick Children
Three glass ampoules containing Polybrene (hexadimethrine bromide). Each ampoule has (slightly discoloured) white labelling, a blue ring around the upper portion of the ampoule, and a similar ring around the narrow portion of the neck.
Accession Number: 2025.sk.61
Alternative Name:
Primary Materials: Glass
Markings:
Height = 9.5, Width = 1,5, Length = 1.5.
Open heart surgery requires the use of extracorporeal circulation, a heart-lung machine that is used to oxygenate blood outside the body. Heparin is used to prevent blood clotting during this process. After surgery, an antiheparinic agent is used to restore the coagulation of the blood.
During a period in the 1950s and 1960s, Polybrene (hexadimethrine bromide) was used to reverse heparin anticoagulation (Blumberg et al. 1960). Its use was ended after evidence of renal toxicity at high doses (Haller et al. 1962).
The ampoules are intact and unopened. The labelling has discoloured in places to a tan colour and is incomplete on two of the examples.
Associated Instruments:
Abbott Laboratories. North Chicago, Illinois, USA
Date of Manufacture: c. 1960s
Provenance:
Jack B. Blumberg, Loren C. Winterscheid, David H. Dillard, Roy R. Vetto, & K. Alvin Merendino, (1960). The clinical use of polybrene as an antiheparin agent in open heart surgery. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 39(3), 330–336.
J. Alex Haller, Herbert T. Ransdell, Daniel Stowens, & W. Fielding Rubel (1962). Renal toxicity of Polybrene in open-heart surgery. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 44(4), 486–493.
Historical Notes: