A major diagonal branch of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was acutely occluded in 17 baboons. Complete left ventricular (LV) decompression was achieved with a left heart bypass (LHB) system in six baboons while 11 baboons served as untreated controls. In the treated group, LHB was initiated after 30 minutes of coronary occlusion. For a period of 6 hours after occlusion, aortic pressure, LV pressure, left atrial pressure, and cardiac output were monitored. During the same monitoring period, electrograms were recorded from a high resolution matrix of fixed epicardial electrodes. Regional myocardial blood flow was determined prior to and at intervals following the initiation of LHB with radioactive microspheres. Infarct size was assessed histologically from serial cross sections of the left ventricle. The degree of salvage achieved by LHB was assessed by comparing the epicardial area of infarction 6 hours after occlusion (AI) to the area of epicardial St-segment elevation (STE) 30 minutes after occlusion (maxAST). In the LHB-treated group, 40.0% +/- 8.1% (SEM) of maxAST showed subsequent infarction; in the control group, 79.8% +/- 2.7% of maxAST showed eventual infarction (p less than 0.01). STE overlying the region of ischemia in the LHB-treated group did not undergo the spontaneous decline observed in the control group, which is normally associated with the progression of necrosis. Regional myocardial blood flow did not change significantly in the ischemic region during the period of occlusion following LHB. LHB. The results suggest that LHB is capable of substantial salvage of acutely ischemic myocardium by reducing myocardial work and thus reducing myocardial oxygen requirements.