# Ex vivo Coronary Angiography: Safety of Iopromide in Cold Preservation of Pig Hearts

## TL;DR

This study tested if using iopromide during cold storage of pig hearts affects heart function and cell metabolism after transplantation.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates the safety of intracoronary iopromide during ex vivo cold preservation of pig hearts.

## Key findings

- Intracoronary iopromide did not affect cardiac pump function post-transplant.
- No significant differences in cardiomyocyte metabolism between groups.
- Myocardial oxygen consumption returned to baseline after reperfusion.

## Abstract

To evaluate the effects of intracoronary iopromide (Ultravist®,
Germany) administration on the recovery of cardiac pump function and
cardiomyocytes metabolism during ex vivo cold preservation of pig hearts in
the early posttransplant period.

Three-month-old mini pigs weighing 73 ± 2.8 kg were used as
experimental models (n=12). Physiological parameters were obtained with the
IntelliVue MP70 system (Philips, Netherlands). Blood samples were taken from
the coronary sinus to evaluate myocardial ischemia markers - troponin I,
creatine phosphokinase-MB, lactate dehydrogenase, and lactate - and apex
biopsy was performed before and after the ischemia period according to the
protocol. Myocardial samples were taken from the left ventricle and prepared
according to the protocol either.

Twelve orthotopic heart transplantations were performed during the study.
Sample size was divided into two groups with six each. Cardiac output was
5.11 (4.99; 5.41) l/min and 5.77 (4.97; 6.62) l/min (P-0.0009) after 120
minutes of cardiac activity in both groups. Change of lactate dehydrogenase,
creatine phosphokinase-MB, and troponin I levels in the coronary sinus blood
were significantly higher in the early reperfusion period. However, there
were no statistically significant differences between the groups
(P>0.05). Myocardial oxygen consumption was considerably reduced during
reperfusion but returned to baseline by 60 minutes of postischemia without
significant differences between groups (P>0.05).

We observed that intracoronary iopromide administration was safe during the
ex vivo stage cold preservation phase of the study. Intracoronary iopromide
administration did not affect cardiac pump function and cardiomyocytes
metabolism in the early posttransplant period.