The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 47, 752-755, Copyright © 1989 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Use of an intraaortic balloon pump as a pneumatic ventricular assist device controller
DJ Macrae, B Glenville, T McCarthy, L Cooper, D Guerreiro and DN Ross
Department of Anaesthesia, Brompton Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
Using a circulatory analogue, we investigated sequentially the performance
of a dedicated ventricular assist device driver and an intraaortic balloon
pump when driving a pneumatic ventricular assist device. Each drive device
was compared under identical pumping conditions at rates of 40 to 120
cycles/min against two resistances. Our preliminary study showed that a
modified intraaortic balloon pump could drive a pneumatic ventricular
assist device as effectively as its dedicated driver. The necessary
modifications to and possible further development of the intraaortic
balloon in this role are discussed.