Administering cold cardioplegia in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

In patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), use of hypothermic cardioplegia for myocardial protection may not always achieve even cooling in the areas distal to a severely obstructed artery. Employing simultaneous myocardial temperature measurements, we documented "warm" areas in some patients having CABG. We then devised a technique of combined aortic root and intracoronary cardioplegic infusion. This has achieved prompt cooling of the warm areas and has resulted in uniform myocardial temperatures of 5 degrees to 8 degrees C.