New method for cardiac transplantation

Rat cardiac transplantation into the femoral region has several advantages compared to cardiac transplantation into the peritoneal cavity. These advantages include increased speed, decreased hypothermia of the recipient, and easier-access palpation. However, there is a major discrepancy in the size of the donor and recipient vessels. The donor aorta is two to three times larger than the recipient's femoral artery and thus could be a contraindication to the transplant. To circumvent this problem, we anastomosed the donor's aorta with the recipient's femoral artery by an end-in-end technique whereas the donor's pulmonary artery was anastomosed by conventional end-to-end technique with the recipient's femoral vein. The excess wall of the donor's vessel was plicated on a slant for each anastomosis. Our results compare favorably to those of techniques established previously. We suggest that this new method of cardiac transplantation will be of great value in the study of immunological events involved in graft rejection.