Cardiomyoplasty--the beginning of a new era.

ABSTRACT

Cardiomyoplasty is a surgical treatment for a well-defined group of patients who suffer from congestive heart failure. The procedure is not a contraindication to perform a future heart transplantation, when indicated. The clinical results up to 7 years after cardiomyoplasty are encouraging, but there is still a gap between the significant functional capacity improvement of the patients after cardiomyoplasty and the moderate hemodynamic change. Experimental data and recent measurements in patients provide new insights in understanding the physiologic effect of cardiomyoplasty.