ORIGINAL ARTICLES  CARDIAC PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2000 October;41(5):675-82

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Transmyocardial laser treatment reduces ischemia-induced ventricular fibrillation during the early phase (1a) after coronary artery occlusion in open chest anesthetized pigs

Tjomsland O. ^{1, 2}, Grubd F. ², Kanellopoulos G. K. ², Kvernebo K. ¹, Ilebekk A. ²

From the 1 Department of Cardiovascular Surgery 2 Institute for Experimental Medical Research Ullevaal Hospital University of Oslo, Norway

Intro­duc­tion. It has pre­vi­ously ­been ­shown ­that trans­myo­car­dial revas­cu­lar­iza­tion ­with ­laser (TMR) ­prior to cor­o­nary ­artery occlu­sion ­decreases the occur­rence of ­ischemia-­induced arrhyth­mias. The aim of the ­present ­study was to deter­mine the ­effects of TMR on ven­tric­ular fib­ril­la­tion and ­other arrhyth­mias ­during the ­early (1a) and ­late ­phase (1b) of ­ischemia in ­pigs.
­Methods. In six ­pigs TMR was per­formed in the ante­rior ­wall of the ­left ven­tricle 60 min­utes ­prior to occlu­sion of the prox­imal LAD. Six ­other ­pigs ­were sub­jected to cor­o­nary occlu­sion ­without pre­ceding TMR and ­served as con­trols.
­Results. ­During the 30 min ­period ­with LAD occlu­sion ven­tric­ular fib­ril­la­tion ­occurred 22 ­times in 5 of 6 con­trol ani­mals (20 epi­sodes in ­phase 1a, 2 in ­phase 1b), ­whereas ­none of the ani­mals sub­jected to TMR ­prior to the cor­o­nary ­artery occlu­sion devel­oped ven­tric­ular fib­ril­la­tion (p<0.01). The ­total ­number of pre­ma­ture ­beats per ­animal was ­lower ­during the ­early ­phase (1a) ­after LAD occlu­sion in the TMR ­group ­than in the con­trol ­group (18±13 vs 248±82, p<0.05).
Con­clu­sions. TMR ­prior to occlu­sion of LAD ­reduced the occur­rence of ­early ­phase (la) ­ischemia-­induced ven­tric­ular fib­ril­la­tion and pre­ma­ture ­beats. ­This ­anti-fibril­la­tory ­effect ­might ­explain the ­improved sur­vival ­observed in experi­mental ­studies ­after TMR ­prior to cor­o­nary ­artery occlu­sion ­found by ­others.