Cardioplegia strategies

There are many cardioplegic strategies for coronary surgery. The goal is a dry operative field while maximizing myocardial recovery. Prospective randomized clinical trials have historically been difficult to achieve because of confounding variables such as solution used, route of administration, temperature, and so forth. This chapter describes an ‘integrated method’ of cardioplegia, so named because it combines many of the salient feature of various methods. It is designed to provide the maximum metabolic support of the myocardium during each phase of the operation. A vast literature from the laboratory to the bedside supports its use. Perhaps most importantly, integrated cardioplegia provides excellent protection of the septum and avoids paradoxical septal motion that may be a form of myocardial injury which is common with other methods of myocardial protection. Any future evaluation of cardioplegia methods should include not only survival but enzyme release and echocardiographic measurements of septal function.