EXPERIMENTAL HEART FAILURE IN DOGS.

Abstract

The mortality rate in patients developing heart failure and shock following a myocardial infarction is as high as 60% to 90%. Mechanical support of the heart by assisted circulation has been suggested as treatment in such cases. In order to compare the various techniques of assisted circulation, it is desirable to create experimental heart failure in animals. Ideally, the failure should be comparable to that developing clinically following a myocardial infarct. Previous studies have indicated that this is difficult to duplicate in experimental animals. 3-11 As early as 1862, Panum 12 produced myocardial damage by injecting crude suspensions of oil, tallow, and lamp black into the root of the aorta in dogs. Samuelson, 13 in 1881, produced a myocardial infarct by ligating the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery. The same year Conheim and Von Schulthess-Rechberg 14 noted that such ligations rarely produced significant hemodynamic changes unless associated