A new technique for producing myocardial infarction using coronary artery balloon occlusion

Many techniques for producing myocardial infarction have required the potential physiological altering effects of a thoracotomy. Previous techniques have used the variable and therefore unpredictable effects of coronary artery injection of occlusive agents, intravascular plugs, and externalized coronary balloon catheters. Previous investigators have reported a survival rate of 50-70%. In the present study a new closed chest dog technique was used in which a catheter with an inflatable detachable balloon was placed in the aorta via the carotid artery. The catheter could be readily lodged into any portion of the right, left anterior, or circumflex coronary artery. The proximal left anterior descending and circumflex arteries were occluded in 15 dogs. This new coronary artery balloon occlusion technique may be used to produce a chronic myocardial infarction with a high survival rate of 90% through the use of short acting anaesthesia and rapid reversal of the effect of morphine with naloxone hydrochloride. The rapid recovery of the dog permits earlier study of haemodynamic variables and arrhythmia due to myocardial infarction in the best physiological state.