Premium
A Simple Left Heart Assist Device For Use After Intracardiac Surgery: Development, Deployment and Clinical Experience
Author(s) -
Koffsky Robert M.,
Litwak Robert S.,
Mitchell Bennett L.,
Jurado Roy A.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
artificial organs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.684
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1525-1594
pISSN - 0160-564X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1594.1978.tb03462.x
Subject(s) - intracardiac injection , software deployment , simple (philosophy) , medicine , surgery , computer science , cardiology , software engineering , philosophy , epistemology
A simple left heart assist device (LHAD) has been developed and employed in nineteen patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction who could not be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass following intracardiac surgery. It has been used when all other means of weaning, including maximum pharmacologic therapy and intra‐aortic balloon counterpulsation (IABC), had failed. The device utilizes specially designed and constructed obturated cannulae in the left atrium and the ascending aorta, and an extracorporeal roller pump to partially bypass the left ventricle. With improved cardiac performance, the patient may be separated from the device without need for thoracic reentry. Of the nineteen patients having LHAD support (2–500 hours), thirteen were eventually weaned from the device and seven were discharged from the hospital. Five patients remain alive and well (18 to 50 months postoperatively).