Abstract
Backgroud: Conventional cardiac transplantation with each atrial anastomosis designed by Shumway and associates has been used widely in cardiac transplantation because of its simplicity and efficiency. There have been many reports about the postoperative atrioventricular value regurgitation resulting from the alteration in atrial geometry after cardiac transplantation by Shumway's technique. New surgical technique of direct anastomosis of superior vena cava, inferior vena cava, right pulmonary vein and left pulmonary vein was introduced to overcome the those problems. We performed this study to test the feasibility of this new surgical technique prior to application to clinical practice. Material and Method: Conventional cardiac transplantation was performed on 12 mongrel dogs(Group I) and cardiac transplantation with new surgical mthod of direct anastomosis of SVC, IVC, left and right pulmonary veins was performed on 11 mongrel dogs(Group II). After weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass, we compared the postoperative rhythm, hemodynamic data, and echocardiographic findings between two groups. Result : The cardiopulmonary bypass time and graft ischemic time were 119.0$\pm$4.4 minutes, 162.0$\pm$4.5 minutes respectively in group I, and 140.0$\pm$7.1 minutes, 180.5$\pm$5.4 minutes respectively in group II. The cardiopulmonary time and graft ischemic time in group II were longer than those of group I (p<0.05). There were 3 cases of failure to weaning from cardipulmonary bypass onein group I and two in group II, and this difference was not significant statistically. Sinus rhythm was regained postoperatively in 58% (group I) and 82%(group II), without statistical significant between 2 groups. Postoperative echolcardiography showed 2 cases of tricuspid value regurgitation and 1 case of mitral regurgitation in group I, and no regurgitation of atrioventricular value in group II. Conclusion: Although these was no statistically significant difference between 2 groups, there was tendency of less arrhythmia and less atrioventricular valvular regurgitation in group II. We suggested that the new surgical technique could be a useful strategy in heart transplantation, especially in the case of size mismatching between donor and recipient.
