Assessment of cardiac function during the progression of heart failure induced by intracoronary embolizations in the canine model: monitoring in conscious and anesthetized states.

Various animal models of acute and chronic heart failure exist including coronary artery occlusion via ligation or microembolization, rapid-ventricular pacing, aortic banding, and fluid challenge. However, to our knowledge, no study has investigated whether anesthesia alters conclusions regarding hemodynamic effects associated with heart failure development. In this study, global ischemic cardiomyopathy, via repeated coronary artery microembolizations, (range: 5–15 embolization procedures per animal) was induced to lower ejection fraction to < 40% in ten chronically instrumented canines. We measured the progression of myocardial dysfunction over time, with each animal serving as its own control in conscious and anesthetized states to elucidate the effect of anesthesia on cardiovascular parameters. Hemodynamic measurements were taken in three conditions: anesthetized, immediately prior to each embolization, anesthetized 1.25 minutes after each embolization, and in a conscious, non-anesthetized state at res...