Stunning: damaging or protective to the myocardium?

There are several potential outcomes of myocardial ischemia. When ischemia is severe and prolonged, irreversible damage occurs and there is no recovery of contractile function. Interventions aimed at reducing mechanical activity and oxygen demand, either before ischemia or during reperfusion, have been shown to delay the onset of ischemic damage and to improve recovery on reperfusion. When myocardial ischemia is less severe but still prolonged, myocytes may remain viable but exhibit depressed contractile function. Under these conditions, reperfusion restores complete contractile performance. This type of ischemia, leading to a reversible, chronic left ventricular dysfunction, has been termed hibernating myocardium. Depression of mechanical activity is, actually, a protective mechanism whereby the hibernating cells reduce their oxygen demands in the setting of reduced oxygen supply. A third possible outcome after a short period of myocardial ischemia is a transient postischemic ventricular dysfunction, a situation termed stunned myocardium. As in the case of hibernating myocardium, the depressed contractile function occurring during stunning could be a protective mechanism, allowing the reperfused cells to gradually recover their metabolism and function.