Biomedical aspects of cardiac massage in experiments and clinical practice

Despite current successes in modern cardiology and heart surgery, the problem of restoring and maintaining cardiac function in cases of sudden arrest or ventricular insufficiency is still urgent. Different methods of mechanically assisting the heart and replacing its pumping function exist, and direct mechanical cardiac massage (DMCM) is one of the more important. Experimental results with dogs and calves on 2- to 4-h DMCM, cardiac massage lasting for up to 48 h, subsequent restoration of cardiac activity, and cardiac massage during experimentally induced myocardial infarction permitted clinical application in patients with myocardial infarction complicated by ventricular fibrillation. DMCM also permits extension of the possibilities of obtaining and transplanting donor organs. It is one of the variants for solving the problem of total and partial replacement of the pump function of the heart, and now makes it possible to solve some important problems in transplantation and cardiac resuscitation.