System and process for monitoring myocardial integrity

Abstract

A process and apparatus for providing an electrophysiologic indicator of reversible myocardial ischemic injury as well as a procedure and apparatus for providing a method of assessing the status of myocardial preservation during elective cardioplegic arrest in order to assure complete electromechanical arrest from the onset of the application of the standard cardioplegic techniques. The procedure for establishing an indication of reversible myocardial ischemic injury involves implanting multiple electrodes in the myocardial tissue and sensing the instantaneous unipolar electrical potentials of the electrodes and comparing those sensed potentials with a series of registered potentials for healthy tissue. The procedure and apparatus for assessing the status of myocardial preservation involves the use of the same implanted multiple electrodes which are placed in the ventricle and the apparatus provides for a sensing and documenting of ventricular electrical activity in the visually arrested heart at a time when a peripheral EKG would be quiescent in order to detect persistent activity originating in the lower atrial septum and conducted through the AV node to the ventricles at what was previously considered to be safe myocardial temperatures.