[Myocardial protection during open heart operations]

The need for adequate protection of the myocardial tissue during open heart operations has proved to be of considerable importance in view of the conditioning value of the functional anatomical state of the myocardial fibre on the outcome of the surgery itself. After a review and description of the most widely used methods of protection, the Authors draw on the data in literature in order to trace a critical profile of each method, outlining its merits and defects in the light of present experience.