From December 1993 to April 1994, to investigate complement activation and pulmonary leukostasis, thirty adult patients were studied during cardiopulmonary bypass[CPB for cardiac surgery in Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery, Pusan Paik Hospital, Inje University. Total patients were divided into group I and II according to the purpose of study ; Group I was 15 patients undergoing CPB with bubble oxygenator, Group II was 15 patients undergoing CPB with membrane oxygenator. The results of study were summarized as follows.1. The decrease of C3 and C4 levels were observed within few minutes of beginning of CPB in all patients[P<0.05 , and this decrease was proved to be due to complement activation, not by the influence of hemodilution.2. In the correlation between the change of C3 and C4, group I showed linear correlation each other suggesting complement activation occurred through the classical pathway, group II showed a correlation at only partial sampling times suggesting complement activation via both classical and alternative pathway, however there was no significant statistical difference at the change of C3 and C4 concentrations in two groups[P>0.05 .3. After switching to partial CPB, a few difference between right atrial and left atrial WBC count was observed, but statistically not significant and median cell count difference between group I and II was not significant, too [P>0.05 . With the above result, we concluded that CPB itself contributes to the activation of complement system, but bubble oxygenator does not activate always complement system more than membrane oxygenator.