cardioplegian.
/ˌkɑːdɪə(ʊ)ˈpliːdʒ(ɪ)ə/, U.S. /ˌkɑrdioʊˈpli(d)ʒ(i)ə/, /ˌkɑrdiəˈpli(d)ʒ(i)ə/ Medicine and Surgery.
1. Failure or severe impairment of the contractile activity of the heart (as a result of disease). Now rare or disused.
ΚΠ
1878 tr. A. Gubler in Med. Times & Gaz. 19 Jan. 73/1 The accidents resulting from cardiac paresis, which I designate cardioplegia.
1906 Internat. Clinics 16th Ser. 1 28 This state of asystole is characterized by distention of the cavities of the heart, by paresis of the myocardium, and by cardiac ataxia, or cardioplegia.
1920 Jrnl. Amer. Vet. Med. Assoc. 57 343 The immediate cause of his death being cardioplegia.
2. The action or procedure of temporarily stopping the contractile activity of the heart by chemical or physical means, used esp. in cardiac surgery.
ΚΠ
1957 Jrnl. Thoracic Surg. 34 509 (title) Experiences in the use of cardioplegia (induced cardiac arrest) in the repair of interventricular septal defects.
1987 Times 24 Nov. 32/2 The technique, known as cardioplegia, extends from less than an hour to more than four hours the length of time that the heart can remain bloodless and still stay alive.
1992 D. A. G. Mickle in L. Packer & J. Fuchs Vitamin E in Health & Dis. xlvii. 673 A number of different biochemical mechanisms act to damage the reperfused ischemic myocardium during cardiac surgery despite the use of cold blood cardioplegia.
2007 Daily Tel. 16 July 21/1 This was achieved by bathing the heart in a solution of a precise concentration of various salts and reducing the temperature to below 28° C, the technique known as ‘cold cardioplegia.’
2013 New Yorker 6 May 49/1 Typically, the heart is injected with a cardioplegia solution while it is still inside the donor, paralyzing the organ.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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