Issn Print: 1058-2916

Publication Date: 2003/03/01


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LEFT VENTRICULAR UNLOADING WITH A NEWLY DEVELOPED MICRODIAGONAL BLOOD PUMP

R Autschbach; S Christiansen; L Demircan; S Rex; G Langebartels; M Akdis; M Martin; H Reul

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Author Information: Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Technology Aachen, Aachen, Germany

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Excerpt

The concept of unloading of the failing heart for bridge to recovery is gaining more and more interest. Therefore, we report on our first experimental trials with the newly developed microdiagonal blood pump.
The pump was implanted in six adult female sheep (80 to 90 kg) for seven days each. The inflow conduit was anastomosed to the left atrium, the outflow conduit to the descending aorta. Pump flow was adjusted to 2-3 L/min. Hemodynamic data were measured before and after surgery as well as before termination of the trial and encompassed systemic and pulmonary artery pressures as well as echocardiographic parameters. The data are presented as mean values and standard error of the mean. Due to unloading of the heart, left ventricular enddiastolic and endsystolic diameters as well as the ejection fraction decreased postoperatively (4.1 +/−0.5 =3.6 +/−0.3 cm, 3.2 +/−0.4 =>2.8 +/−0.5 cm and 57 +/−9% =>42 +/− 5%, respectively) and did not change during the test period. Cardiac output fell from 4.9 +/− 0.7 to 3.2 +/− 0.5 L/min. Systemic and pulmonary artery pressures remained stable during the whole test period (mean systemic arterial pressure: 100 +/− 10 mmHg, mean pulmonary artery pressure: 18 +/−1.5 mmHg, wedge pressure: 14 +/− 1.1 mmHg).
These first trials with the microdiagonal blood pump demonstrated a reliable unloading of the left ventricle. Long-term experiments are necessary to confirm these results.
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