Excessive myocardial cooling may have detrimental effects on donor heart integrity. This study assessed the standard technique for donor myocardial preservation using hearts from seven mongrel dogs (mean weight 192.7 gm), which were arrested, excised, and placed in a cooler containing saline and ice.

We tested the ability of various cardiac preservation techniques to preserve left ventricular function of isolated canine hearts using preservation temperatures of 4 degrees or 15 degrees C°.