Protection of the myocardium with sodium-hydrogen exchange inhibitors: A cardiac surgical perspective

Strategies for myocardial protection in cardiac surgery are directed at the prevention of procedure-induced ischemia/reperfusion injury as well as met abolic resuscitation in acute ischemic syndromes. Postreperfusion myocardia l dysfunction remains a significant clinical problem, most importantly in c ertain high-risk patient groups. The large body of experimental evidence de monstrating a significant role for sodium-hydrogen exchange activation in m yocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury suggests that the ability to pharmaco logically inhibit the exchanger presents a promising new approach to curren t myocardial preservation techniques.