Retrograde Insufflation of Gaseous Oxygen Into the Coronary Sinus as a Means of Myocardial Maintenance

Isolated canine hearts were used to evaluate retrograde gaseous oxygen perfusion of the heart as a method of preservation at room temperature for three hours compared with continuous normothermic cross-perfusion, ischemia at room temperature, and ischemia at 4 C, assessing the myocardium by functional, histochemical, and birefringence techniques. Statistically demonstrable benefit of oxygen insufflation over three hours of ischemia at the same temperature could be shown histochemically and there was also a trend toward functional benefit from this technique.