Orthotopic Heart Transplant in Dogs After a Short-Term Storage with Cardioplegia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess potassium-induced cold cardio plegia as the modality for myocardial protection of canine hearts during an ischemic interval (2½ hours) through orthotopic transplantation. The hearts were preserved for one hour by two coronary infusions (at 0 and 45 minutes) both in Group I (5 animals) with cold lactated Ringer's solution and Group II (8 animals) with cold cardioplegia. In Group III (8 animals) hearts were treated similarly to Group II, but an additional infusion of cold cardioplegia was given during implantation. The grafts in all groups supported the recipient circulation after transplantation for a minimum of a 2-hour observation period. Group III exhibited approximately 85-90% recovery of ventricular function from the pretransplant baseline level. This study indicates that potassium-induced cold cardioplegia and hypothermia is effective for myocardial protection of the heart during ischemia through orthotopic transplantation.