Although anoxic cardiac arrest produces a dry, quiet field, the ability of the myocardium to withstand the anoxic insult is uncertain. The current growth of interest in the use of various cardioplegic solutions ` has resulted in the development of a number of different solutions. In this study, 51 consecutive cases of elective open heart surgery with the aid of extracorporeal circulation were reviewed retrospectively to compare two methods of myocardial preservation. All of these open heart operations had been performed, using hemodilution principle under the moderate hypothermia at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, College of Medicine, Kyungpook National University from December, 1975 to July, 1979. In the 31 consecutive cases that form the anoxic arrest group, the operations were done with intermittent aortic cross-clamping and topical cardiac hypothermia. The heart was cooled topically by cold normal saline, which was converted to ice slush before application to the pericardial sac. Twenty of 51 consecutive cases were assigned to the cold cardioplegic method [the cardioplegic group], in which two kinds of cold cardioplegic solutions [Young solution and G IK solution] were infused into the aortic root proximal to the aortic cross clamp for myocardial preservation. Mean total aortic cross clamp times were 43 minutes in the anoxic arrest group and 67 minutes in the cardioplegic group. In the post-operative period, spontaneous regular heart beatings were recovered in 80 percent of the cardioplegic group as opposed to 25.7 percent of the anoxic arrest group. Ventricular fibrillation requiring DC shock was seen in 32.3 percent of the anoxic arrest group and 10 percent of the cardioplegic group. In the cardioplegic group, mean CPK-MB was one positive value on the first post-operative day, and mean LDH 1 was elevated to 51 0 units/ml on the 2nd post-operative day. These results indicate that protecting the myocardium with cold cardioplegia is superior to use of the anoxic cardiac arrest.[KTCS 1979;4:442-449]