Permanent cardiac assistance from skeletal muscle: a prospect for the new millennium.

This paper looks at the prospects for new surgical solutions to the problem of end-stage heart failure based on cardiac assistance from skeletal muscle. The current status of the main biological approaches, cardiomyoplasty, aortomyoplasty, and the skeletal muscle ventricle, are discussed, followed by a consideration of some of the important basic issues that need to be addressed if these techniques are to achieve their full potential. Although there is a review element to the paper, the main emphasis is on the work of our own research group and collaborating workers.