Conclusion
Clinical hibernation may be the result of stunning or long-term perfusion-contraction matching. I believe that the weight of evidence favours the later. However it is neither necessary nor practical to differentiate these two physiological conditions (Table 1). The time has probably come to shift the emphasis away from colloquialisms to more clinically relevant questions such as can we detect fibrosis non-invasively and are we better able to predict the rate and eventual degree of contractile recovery?
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Marber, M. Viewpoint: stunning and longterm perfusion-contraction matching are clinically indistinguishable components of clinical hibernation and separation, even if practical, is unlikely to matter. Basic Res Cardiol 92 (Suppl 2), 26–29 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00797201
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00797201