INFLUENCE OF DEXTRANS ON CARDIAC PRESERVATION IN AN EXTRACORPOREAL RAT-HEART MODEL

Despite advances in preservation techniques for thoracic organs, the i schemic tolerance of the donor heart is still limited. Recently, a ben eficial effect of oncotic substances such as dextran was shown in lung transplantation. Clinically, only in the University of Wisconsin (UW) solution oncotic substances for the prevention of cellular edema are used. Since little is known about the perspective value of dextrans in cardiac preservation, we investigated dextrans with different molecul ar weights added to the St. Thomas Hospital solution in an experimenta l working rat heart Langendorff model for functional and histological aspects. By comparison of various dextrans with molecular weights of 4 0,000, 70,000 and 160,000 daltons, best results were achieved by the a ddition of 5% dextran with the highest molecular weight.