Resuscitation and Function of the Cadaver Heart

Abstract

Cadaver dog hearts with anoxia for one and one-half hours and no cooling were revived with 70% (18 of 26) success. There was occasional success after one and one-half to two hours of anoxia. At two hours no heart could be revived. After resuscitation cadaver hearts were maintained in a functional heart-lung preparation for periods up to 30 hours. Attempts were made to transplant ten of these hearts into the orthotopic position. There were no long-term survivors; all ten, however, were able to take over the circulatory load after bypass. Four dogs maintained an adequate circulation without supportive drugs for from eight to 38 hours.