A system to measure latissimus dorsi muscle function for cardiomyoplasty

Cardiomyoplasty is a new surgical treatment for heart failure in which the latissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) is wrapped around the heart and electrically stimulated to provide direct mechanical assist. The authors are interested in determining the effects of stimulation pattern and pharmacological interventions on LDM contractile performance with the hope of improving LDM performance for use in cardiomyoplasty. To directly evaluate LDM performance, without the confounding effects of the skeletal muscle wrap procedure, the authors developed an experimental system to measure the contractile function of the intact canine LDM during functional electrical stimulation. With this system the authors can measure the isometric and shortening performance of the canine LDM