Coronary Sinus Injury Research Articles

Retrograde continuous warm blood cardioplegia: A new concept in myocardial protection

This report presents the results in our first clinical series of patients receiving continuous warm blood cardioplegia through the coronary sinus. Warm oxygenated blood cardioplegia has certain theoretical advantages, such as continuously supplying oxygen and substrates to the arrested heart while avoiding the side effects of hypothermia. Retrograde infusion of cardioplegia also offers certain advantages (eg, in valve operations and in patients with severe coronary artery disease) that are complementary to warm blood cardioplegia. Retrograde warm blood cardioplegia was used in 113 consecutive patients (85 men and 28 women with a mean age of 61 years) undergoing various procedures. Three percent of the patients died, 7% needed transient intraaortic balloon pump support, 6% had evidence of perioperative myocardial infarction, and 96% had spontaneous return of rhythm. There were no coronary sinus injuries. This new technique of retrograde continuous warm blood cardioplegia is a simple, safe, and reliable method of myocardial protection that may change the way we currently protect the heart intraoperatively.

Facile retrograde cardioplegia: Transatrial cannulation of the coronary sinus

The benefits of coronary sinus (CS) cardioplegia are well known, yet CS cardioplegia is not used widely owing to the need for bicaval cannulation, snares, and an atriotomy. We designed and used in 225 consecutive patients a catheter containing a flexible removable stylet that, when shaped into a hockey-stick configuration, enabled blind intubation of the CS through a small pursestring in the right atrium, guided easily into the CS using a finger on the atrioventricular groove at the inferior vena cava. The CS was intubated in all patients; a pressure-limited balloon at the catheter tip was inflated after cross-clamping. An integral distal pressure line measured CS pressure. Catheters were placed distally within the great cardiac vein beyond the posterior interventricular vein; the position did not alter cooling: right ventricular free wall, septum, and left ventricular free wall temperatures were 7 ° ± 2 °, 8 ° ± 2 °, and 7 ° ± 2 °C, respectively, after an initial 10 mL/kg of blood cardioplegia. Transatrial CS cardioplegia was used in 45 aortic valve replacements, 22 mitral valve replacements, 4 triple-valve replacements, 6 congenital lesions, and 148 coronary revascularizations, including 40 redo operations. Atheromatous material was routinely flushed retrogradely from cut old vein grafts during revascularization; 70 revascularizations (47%) were performed urgently for acute infarction or jeopardized myocardium. No heart block or CS injury occurred, and inotrope use dropped to 10% of patients (from 38% in the previous 256 patients with antegrade blood cardioplegia). We conclude that the CS can be cannulated transatrially and that CS cardioplegia is more facile than antegrade cardioplegia. Transatrial CS cardioplegia appears to be the cardioplegic method of choice.

Retrograde Cardioplegia through the Right Atrium

Retrograde cardioplegia through the coronary sinus has been shown to overcome the problems of cardioplegia delivery in aortic valve incompetence and coronary stenosis. Since specific complications, such as coronary sinus injury and lack of perfusion of the thebesian veins, may result from its use, we present a technique of cardioplegia delivery through the right atrium after caval and pulmonary artery exclusion that we believe is safer and more reliable than delivery through the coronary sinus.