# A Brief History of Cardiomyoplasty: Worth Another Look?

## TL;DR

This paper reviews the history of cardiomyoplasty, a technique that used skeletal muscle to assist failing hearts, and suggests the concept might still have potential.

## Contribution

The paper re-evaluates the outdated cardiomyoplasty technique, proposing that its accessory pumping chambers could be reconsidered.

## Key findings

- Cardiomyoplasty was tested by wrapping skeletal muscle around failing hearts or creating accessory chambers.
- The cardiac wrap approach was found ineffective, leading to the decline of cardiomyoplasty.
- The concept of independent skeletal muscle ventricles may still hold promise for cardiac assistance.

## Abstract

This article reviews the concept and
extensive experimentation done over two decades ago to convert and apply skeletal
muscle for cardiac assistance—so called “cardiomyoplasty”. Skeletal muscle
was either wrapped around a failing heart or fashioned into accessory cardiac
pumping chambers. Although the era of cardiomyoplasty came to an end when the
cardiac wraps were found ineffective, the concept of independent accessory
skeletal muscle ventricles may be worth another look.