[Myocardial protection from ischemic and reperfusion injuries in reconstructive heart surgery]

Methods of myocardial protection from ischemic and reperfusion injuries in various operations on the open heart were compared. The study demonstrated the advantages of combined antegrade-retrograde delivery of cardioplegic solution during ischemia in aortocoronary shunting and correction of valvular defects. The method of myocardial protection from reperfusion injury by perfusing the heart with blood solution of a special composition before removing the clamp from the aorta (controlled reperfusion) proved to be effective, which was confirmed by clinical and biochemical data presented in this paper. Hence, our findings confirmed that the optimal protection of the myocardium can be attained by combined cold crystalloid cardioplegia together with controlled reperfusion of the myocardium.