Myocardial stunning and hibernation. The physiology behind the colloquialisms.

The Physiology Behind the Colloquialisms

T he recent spectacular progress in the treatment of coronary artery disease has led to a growing awareness of the contractile abnormalities that accompany ischemia and reperfusion. Myocardium subjected to low coronary flow exhibits a reversible decrease in the force of contraction, a phenomenon known as "hibernation." A different sort of contractile dysfunction, "stunning," prevails during rep...

Stunning, hibernation, and assessment of myocardial viability.

The last 3 decades have witnessed an unprecedented improvement in the outcome of patients with acute coronary syndromes. The widespread use of thrombolytic therapy and percutaneous coronary interventions, in association with increasingly potent antithrombotic agents, has contributed to significant reductions in mortality and morbidity in these patients. Although overall survival has improved, a...

Myocardial hibernation and stunning: from physiological principles to clinical practice.

In patients with coronary artery disease, one of the most powerful determinants of prognosis is left ventricular function. 2 Thus, if we assume that the prognostic benefit of revascularisation is mediated through an eVect on left ventricular function, two mechanisms might explain this benefit. First, coronary artery bypass surgery or angioplasty could reduce the impact of coronary artery diseas...

The physiology of artificial hibernation

Received: 5 May, 2015 Revised: 7 September, 2015 Accepted: 14 September, 2015 Published online: 30 September, 2015 Incomplete understanding of the mechanisms responsible for induction of hibernation prevent translation of natural hibernation to its artificial counterpart. To facilitate this translation, a model was developed that identifies the necessary physiological changes for induction of a...

PRO: Stunning and hibernation: two faces of the same disease