Method and apparatus for treating acute myocardial infarction with selective hypothermic perfusion

Abstract

An apparatus and method are described for therapeutic hypothermia of the heart by selective hypothermic perfusion of the myocardium through the patient's coronary arteries. The apparatus and method provide rapid cooling of the affected myocardium to achieve optimal myocardial salvage in a patient experiencing acute myocardial infarction. The therapeutic hypothermia system includes one or more selective coronary perfusion catheters and a fluid source for delivering a hypothermically-cooled physiologically-acceptable fluid, such as saline solution, oxygenated venous blood, autologously-oxygenated arterial blood and/or an oxygenated blood substitute. The system may also include one or more guidewires, subselective catheters and/or interventional catheters introduced through a lumen in the selective coronary perfusion catheter.

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