Protection of the myocardial homograft. 1. The cooling bag

Because severe cardiac insufficiency follows orthotopic heart transplantation, the authors have evaluated protection of the homograft provided by a cooling and isolating bag during the operative period of ischemia and subsequently its effect on cardiac function. In one group or four dogs hearts were transplanted without using hypothermia. In the second group, seven hearts were excised, immediately cooled by immersion in saline at 4 degrees C and orthotopically homotransplanted. In the third group, six hearts were immersed in saline and then isolated in a cooling bag until transplantation had been completed. Cardiac function in all animals was evaluated at rest, 3, 24 and 48 hours after operation. In group 1, lowering of the temperature was minimal and all animals died immediately after operation. In group 2, the myocardial temperature, which had been lowered to 13 degrees C by immersion, had risen to 25 degrees C after 17 minutes. In group 3, the myocardial temperature was maintained at 13 degrees C up to the time the aortic clamp was removed. Three hours after operation, the cardiac performance of group 3 was much better than that of group 3 was much better than that of group 2 as demonstrated by an increase of cardiac output (39%), stroke volume (44%), mean systolic ejection rate (25%), maximum systolic flow (28%), peak velocity (26%), maximum acceleration (20%), left ventricular power (32%) and left ventricular work (47%). In the following days, cardiac function of groups 2 and 3 improved and the disparity between then decreased. These results demonstrate that the cooling bag, while offering technical advantages, maintains profound hypothermia in the donor heart and substantially improves the performance of the homograft in the immediate postoperative phase.