Rapid Surface Cooling by ThermoSuit System Dramatically Reduces Scar Size, Prevents Post-Infarction Adverse Left Ventricular Remodeling, and Improves Cardiac Function in Rats.

backgroundThe long-term effects of transient hypothermia by the non-invasive ThermoSuit apparatus on myocardial infarct (MI) scar size, left ventricular (LV) remodeling, and LV function were assessed in rat MI model. METHODS AND

resultsRats were randomized to normothermic or hypothermic groups (n=14 in each group) and subjected to 30 minutes coronary artery occlusion and 6 weeks of reperfusion. For hypothermia therapy, rats were placed into the ThermoSuit apparatus at 2 minutes after the onset of coronary artery occlusion, were taken out of the apparatus when the core body temperature reached 32°C (in ≈8 minutes), and were then allowed to rewarm. After 6 weeks of recovery, rats treated with hypothermia demonstrated markedly reduced scar size (expressed as % of left ventricular area: hypothermia, 6.5±1.1%; normothermia, 19.4±1.7%; P=1.3×10(-6)); and thicker anterior LV wall (hypothermia, 1.57±0.09 mm; normothermia, 1.07±0.05 mm; P=3.4×10(-5)); decreased postmortem left ventricular volume (hypothermia, 0.45±0.04 mL; normothermia, 0.6±0.03 mL; P=0.028); and better LV fractional shortening by echocardiography (hypothermia, 37.2±2.8%; normothermia, 18.9±2.3%; P=0.0002) and LV ejection fraction by LV contrast ventriculography (hypothermia, 66.8±2.3%; normothermia, 56.0±2.0%; P=0.0014).

conclusionsRapid, transient non-invasive surface cooling with the ThermoSuit apparatus in the acute phase of MI decreased scar size by 66.5%, attenuated adverse post-infarct left ventricular dilation and remodeling, and improved cardiac function in the chronic phase of experimental MI.