Fig. 1.

Schematic illustration of the abdominal heterotopic heart transplantation. The superior and inferior vena cava and pulmonary veins of the donor heart are ligated. The donor aorta is anastomosed to the host infrarenal aorta, and the donor pulmonary artery is anastomosed to the inferior vena cava. Arrows indicate the direction of blood flow. Blood from the host flows into the donor ascending aorta and then into the donor coronary arteries. Blood then returns to the donor right ventricle through the coronary sinus and finally drains into the host circulation via the donor pulmonary artery. In this setting, the donor heart is vascularized and beats, but the left ventricle (LV) is mechanically unloaded. In the transplanted group with myocardial infarction (MI), the donor left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was also ligated. RA, right atrium; LA, left atrium; LCA, left coronary artery; RCA, right coronary artery.