Surgical Treatment of Ischemic Heart Disease

In experimental work on 134 dogs, the authors succeeded in verifying a non-suture end-to-end method of vessel anastomosis for the purpose of heart revascularization. Instead of usual steel tubes, the authors used fibrin tubes which make the method more suitable for clinical use also. This method seems to be more advantageous especially for operation on coronary arteries of very small peripheral diameter and possibly for the treatment of acute infarction, too. Besides, it was proved that the best way to prevent ventricular fibrillation after revascularization is the intermittent and gradual release of the blood flow through the anastomosis. The question of possible diagnosis of an unsuccessfull operation during the postoperative course was also studied. It was found that besides electrocardiographical and coronarographical examinations, the plasma-enzyme level (especially SGOT) may be of some help in solving this question.