Myocardial biopsy drill: construction details and techniques

The modification of currently available dental equipment to construct a myocardial biopsy drill by the technique of Poole et al. (P. E. Poole, G. F. Norris, R. M. Lewis, and J. W. Covell, J. Appl. Physiol. 24: 832, 1968) is described. In dogs, five to seven full-thickness myocardial cores 3 mm in diameter and weighing 40 to 70 mg could be obtained consistently with the drill without affecting left ventricular function. The positive pressure/negative pressure system allowed separation of contaminating blood from the myocardial sample and rapid myocardial freezing. Assessment by a modification of the technique of Estabrook et al. (R. W. Estabrook, J. R. Williamson, R. Frenkel, and P. K. Maitra, In R. W. Estabrook and M. E. Pullman (Eds.), Methods in Enzymology, New York: Academic Press, 1967. Vol. 10, p. 474). yielded myocardial ATP levels of 32.12 +/- 0.90 nmole/mg of protein.