Myocardial Preservation

The objectives of these studies have been to prolong the viability of heart muscle after 24-36 hours (and possibly longer) of preservation.

Primate hearts during hypothermic preservation normally maintain viability for approximately 18 hours using standard preservation techniques resulting in an adequate left ventricular function to sustain life. Beyond this time period, less and less functional recovery is possible.

In our ongoing studies, only reversible damage was found after 18 hours of hypothermic preservation as indicated by histological techniques. No necrotic cells were observed, however apoptotic cells were found dispersed among the normal cardiac cells and may provide the reason that adequate preservation cannot be maintained.

We are presently using an apoptosis-blocking compound in conjunction with standard preservation techniques in determining if this may be an efficacious means of increasing ventricular function after prolonged preservation.