Landiolol reduces coronary artery motion in an open-chest porcine model: implications for off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery

Reduction of target coronary artery motion is imperative for successful off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. We hypothesized that landiolol, a novel ultra-short-acting selective beta-1 blocker, would reduce such coronary artery motion. To test this hypothesis, the motion of the left anterior descending artery of the porcine heart (n = 8) was analyzed by three-dimensional digital motion capture and reconstruction technology with or without continuous landiolol infusion. Landiolol (0.12 mg/kg/min) significantly decreased the heart rate (105 +/- A 16 vs. 90 +/- A 9 beats/min), three-dimensional distance moved (-20.4% vs. control), maximum velocity (-30.0% vs. control), acceleration (-31.1% vs. control), and deceleration (-28.6% vs. control) without inducing a significant change in the systolic blood pressure (85 +/- A 18 vs. 81 +/- A 22 mmHg), cardiac output (4.3 +/- A 1.4 vs. 4.1 +/- A 1.3 l/min), or pulmonary wedge pressure (7.8 +/- A 3.0 vs. 8.7 +/- A 2.9 mmHg). Landiolol reduces the heart rate and coronary artery motion with stable hemodynamics, which may facilitate performing precise anastomosis on the beating heart.