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Ann Thorac Surg 2002;73:842
© 2002 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Invited commentary

^a Division of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 55 Lake Ave, N Room #53-751, Worcester, MA 01655-0304, USA

e-mail: vanderst@ummhc.org

Should cardioplegia solutions contain L-arginine? Carrier and colleagues stop short of answering that question affirmatively. But their results suggest that the answer may be "yes" and that the question should further be pursued.

L-arginine is a nitric oxide (NO) precursor. In patients with atherosclerotic disease, coronary and peripheral arterial endothelial cells produce reduced amounts of NO. Accompanying this deficit is reduced arterial vasodilatation in response to endothelium-dependent mediators . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Cardioplegic arrest with L-arginine improves myocardial protection: results of a prospective randomized clinical trial

Michel Carrier, Michel Pellerin, Louis P. Perrault, Denis Bouchard, Pierre Pagé, Norman Searle, and Joel Lavoie
Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2002 73: 837-841. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]