Table 1.
Patients and tissues used in functional studies
| Region (patients; strips) | Gender (M : F) | Age (median, range) | Response (number of strips) | Recovery time (minutes: median, range) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending (19; 146) | 1:1.1 | 67 (39–88) | Contract (25) | 137 (92–195) if used on day of surgery (3 patients) or 238 (175–299) if stored overnight (16 patients) |
| Contract-AC (81) | ||||
| Relax (5) | ||||
| Relax-AC (35) | ||||
| Descending (34; 314) | 1:0.4 | 61 (35–82) | Contract (30) | 159 (120–220) if used on day of surgery (8 patients) or 218 (110–330) if stored overnight (25 patients) |
| Contract-AC (213) | ||||
| Relax (10) | ||||
| Relax-AC (61) |
The phenotype of responses to 5 Hz EFS studied on the day of surgery or after overnight storage of the tissue were similar and data obtained using these two groups of tissues are grouped together. Gender- or age-related differences in responses to 5 Hz EFS were not apparent in this study and data were pooled together. There was a tendency for tissues stored overnight to take longer to recover (defined as the time to achieve consistent responses to 5 Hz EFS following suspension in tissue baths). Data are expressed as medians (ranges in parenthesis). For one patient, these details were not collected.
AC = after-contraction observed on termination of EFS.