Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH) and Right Ventricular (RV) dysfunction were induced in piglets by progressive obstruction of the pulmonary arteries. Consequences were remarkably similar to those observed in CTEPH patients. This animal model would be a very useful tool for pathophysiology and therapeutic experiments on CTEPH and RV failure.
We present a protocol to induce and phenotype an acute right heart failure in a large animal model with chronic pulmonary hypertension. This model can be used to test therapeutic interventions, to develop right heart metrics or to improve the understanding of acute right heart failure pathophysiology.
A reliable noninvasive approach for functional assessment of the donor heart during normothermic ex situ heart perfusion (NESP) is lacking. We herein describe a protocol for ex situ assessment of myocardial performance using the epicardial echocardiography and conductance catheter method.