Production of Complete Atrioventricular Dissociation

Introduction A new method of producing complete artioventricular dissociation in an experimental animal was developed during the course of investigating the hemodynamic effects of complete atrioventricular dissociation. Such a technique was desired because it has not been possible to evaluate the acute hemodynamic alterations of experimentally induced complete atrioventricular block without using general anesthesia and thoracotomy. Since anesthesia and thoracotomy per se cause cardiovascular changes, this technique was designed to obviate the need of thoracotomy at the time of evaluation of the hemodynamic effects of experimentally induced complete atrioventricular dissociation. Background Investigators have induced complete atrioventricular dissociation by a variety of experimental techniques. His5originally caused complete atrioventricular dissociation by incising the atrial wall near the atrioventricular bundle. Other methods have included special clamps to crush the atrioventricular bundle1,8; ligature of the atrioventricular bundle after inflow occlusion and right atriotomy1,7,9,10; thermocautery in the region of the atrioventricular