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The impact of a modified anaesthetic protocol on animal survival and the characteristics of ventricular arrhythmias in the course of acute myocardial infarction in a domestic pig model Cover

The impact of a modified anaesthetic protocol on animal survival and the characteristics of ventricular arrhythmias in the course of acute myocardial infarction in a domestic pig model

Open Access
|Aug 2022

Abstract

Introduction

Acute myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the most common causes of death in humans in highly developed countries. Among its most frequent complications affecting the patient’s prognosis are cardiac arrhythmias: ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF).

Material and Methods

The study aimed to characterise arrhythmias in 19 pigs subjected to experimentally induced MI obtained by occlusion of the proximal left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery using an angioplasty balloon. The anaesthetic protocol was modified to reduce mortality by including procedures stabilising haemodynamic disorders which develop during episodes of ischaemia and arrhythmia. During 30 min of experimentally induced ischaemia, the heart rhythm was recorded using a 12-lead ECG. The time, frequency, and type of arrhythmias were analysed.

Results

Ventricular arrhythmias were found in 94.74% of the treated pigs. The most common were ventricular premature complexes, reported in 88.89% of pigs with arrhythmia. Ventricular tachycardia was recorded in 66.67% and ventricular fibrillation in 50% of pigs with arrhythmias.

Conclusion

Myocardial infarction due to proximal LAD occlusion is characterised by a high incidence of ventricular arrhythmias, especially VT and VF. Because of the high survival rate, this MI porcine model may serve as a model for research on acute ischaemic ventricular arrhythmias in humans. Additionally, it reduces the total number of animals required for testing while yielding meaningful results, which is in line with the 3R principle.

Language: English
Page range: 435 - 447
Submitted on: Mar 7, 2022
Accepted on: Aug 18, 2022
Published on: Aug 30, 2022
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2022 Piotr Frydrychowski, Marcin Michałek, Wiktor Kuliczkowski, Krzysztof Nowak, Piotr Skrzypczak, Iwona Bil-Lula, Agnieszka Noszczyk-Nowak, published by National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.