Editorial           4        Surgical options for pharmacologically intractable heart failure 
                                   Giorgio Arpesella and Ugo Carraro
  

Articles            5        Dynamic cardiomyoplasty: Insights into the mechanisms of its success
                                   Himanshu J. Patel, Edward B. Lankford, David J. Polidori, James J. Pilla and Michael A. Acker

                         9        Latissimus dorsi muscle strengthening and training before cardiomyoplasty
                                   Juan C. Chachques, Paul Chekroun, Edmundo C. Fischer and Alain Carpentier
 

                       15        Recent findings on cardiomyoplasty management and mechanisms of action: implications for patient selection
                                   and post-operative care
                                   Roberto Lorusso, Frederik H van der Veen, Jan J Schreuder and Ottavio Alfieri

                       23        Skeletal muscle adaptation in patients with severe heart failure: implications for Aorto- and Cardio-myoplasty
                                   Joke HL Davidse, Caroline MHB Lucas, Mat JAP Daemen, Olaf CKM Penn and Frederik H van der Veen

                       31        Alternative training protocols for cardiomyoplasty
                                   Kendra Gealow, David Francischelli, Eric Solien and Pierre Grandjean

                       39        Stimulation-induced skeletal muscle damage: cytoprotective effect of prestimulation
                                   Judith Jones, Julian Emmanuel, Hazel Sutherland, Malcom J. Jackson, Jonathan C. Jarvis and Stanley Salmons

                       45        Daily activity-rest regimen of LD stimulation for cardiomyoplasty
                                   Giorgio Arpesella, Piero M. Mikus, Alessandro Giannoni, Pierluca Lombardi, Angelo Pierangeli,
                                   Sandra Zampieri and Ugo Carraro

                       55        Shortened Conditioning and Lighter Stimulation Regimen for Dynamic Cardiomyoplasty: Preliminary Results
                                   C Muneretto, U Carraro, M Barbiero, C Brunazzi, G Docali, F Barbaresi, M Ferrari, G Fasoli, L Testolin,
                                   A Marcassa and D Casarotto

    
                       57        Partial Ventriculectomy for Diameter Heart Surgery
                                   Randas JV Batista
  

                       61        Skeletal muscle ventricles: a potential treatment for heart failure
                                   Kevin A. Greer and Larry W. Stephenson
  

                      67          Functionally adapted stimulation patterns for dynamic training of skeletal muscle ventricles in adult goats
                                    Norbert W. Guldner, Peter Klapproth, Thomas Fischer, Elisabeth Rumpel, Ihna Buchner, Robert Keller,
                                    Ingo Klempien, Hans Krischer, Sylvain Thuaudet, Ralf Noel, Hermann Kuppe and Hans H. Sievers