TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR PRESERVATION OF THE PIG HEART BY A PORTABLE HYPOTHERMIC PERFUSION SYSTEM

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Abstract
The system uses the airlift pump principle, whereby the flow of gas maintains circulation of the perfusate through the heart; no other energy source is required. Performance on ex vivo functional testing of 10 pig hearts stored for 20-24 h by this system (group 3) was compared with that of freshly excised hearts (group 1) and hearts stored simply in the perfusate under hypothermic conditions, but not perfused (group 2). Group 2 hearts performed less well on functional testing than did those of groups 1 and 3, which showed little statistical difference, suggesting good preservation by orthotopic transplantation of similarly preserved baboon hearts, with survival until rejection at a mean of 27 days. The importance of the various constitutents of the perfusate and the significance of weight gain during the storage and reperfusion periods are discussed.