Open AccessSkeletal Muscle Ventricles for Total Heart Replacement
Author(s) -
Alberto Pochettino,
Ali D. Spanta,
Robert L. Hammond,
David R. Anderson,
Charles R. Bridges,
Philip Samet,
Hiroshi Niinami,
Elke Hohenhaus,
Stanley Salmons,
Larry W. Stephenson
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
annals of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.153
H-Index - 309
eISSN - 1528-1140
pISSN - 0003-4932
DOI - 10.1097/00000658-199009000-00013
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiology , skeletal muscle , anatomy
Skeletal muscle ventricles (SMV) were constructed from canine left latissimus dorsi muscle. The animals were divided into three groups: group A (n = 5), SMVs rested 4 weeks without electrical conditioning; group B (n = 6), SMVs rested 4 weeks and then electrically conditioned for 6 weeks; group C (n = 5), SMVs rested 18 weeks without electrical conditioning. At the end of each protocol, the SMVs were acutely tested by connecting them to a mock-circulation device. The SMVs in group C developed stroke work at physiologic preloads superior to any previously reported, as high as 194% of left ventricular stroke work at afterloads of 80 mmHg. The SMVs in group B developed work outputs equivalent to 53% of the left ventricle, which is still more than four times that of the right ventricle. The results show that it is possible to harvest sufficient work from skeletal muscle ventricles to fully replace cardiac function at physiologic preloads.