Description of a Novel Set-Up for Functional Echocardiographic Assessment of Left Ventricular Performance During Ex Vivo Heart Perfusion

Ex vivo heart perfusion (EVHP) is a new technology aimed at decreasing cold ischemia time and evaluating cardiac function before transplanting a donor heart. In an experimental EVHP swine model, we tested a 3D-printed custom-made set-up to perform surface echocardiography on an isolated beating heart during left ventricular loading. The views obtained at any time point were equivalent to standard transesophageal and transthoracic views. A decrease in left ventricular function during EVHP was observed in all experiments. Accepted for publication December 29, 2017. Funding: This study was supported by the Peter Munk Cardiac Foundation, private donation, and the University of Toronto Anesthesia Merit Award. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal's website (http://ift.tt/KegmMq). Reprints will not be available from the authors. Address correspondence to Massimiliano Meineri, MD, FASE, Department of Anesthesia, Toronto General Hospital, 200 Elizabeth St EN 3–442, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada. Address e-mail to Massimiliano.Meineri@uhn.ca. © 2018 International Anesthesia Research Society

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