Surgical Ventricular Reconstruction for Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure is one of the leading causes of death and complications in the developed world, and coronary artery disease is the major cause of heart failure. Efforts to improve ventricular function, symptoms, and clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure have included neurohormonal inhibition with angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers, beta-blockers, and aldosterone antagonists, as well as cardiac resynchronization therapy. All these therapies have been shown in randomized clinical trials to be beneficial.1 However, none of them specifically address the coronary disease responsible for ischemic cardiomyopathy and myocardial infarction.Coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG), which was first used to ameliorate . . .