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Biventricular Assist Using a Portable Driver in Combination with Implanted Devices: Preliminary Experience
Author(s) -
Segesser Ludwig K.,
Tkebuchava Tengis,
Leskosek Boris,
Marty Bettina,
Pei YaoChang,
Turina Marko
Publication year - 1997
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.1525-1594.1997.tb00702.x
Subject(s) - ventricular assist device , medicine , artificial heart , cardiology , cardiopulmonary bypass , heart failure
Left ventricular assist systems with portable drive units are increasingly used in the clinical setting. However, such systems usually are not suitable for right ventricular support, and therefore, in the case of biventricular heart failure, they must be combined with other support devices that require additional drive consoles. As a result, most of the benefits of the wearable drive units (early mobilization and outpatient care) are lost. This present study was performed to evaluate biventricular support with implanted assist devices and a portable DC/battery‐powered driver (Thoratec TLC‐II). Electronic control by nonvolatile RAM accessible via RS232 interface, internal backup emergency battery, and optional manual activation are additional features of this 6 kg biventricular drive unit. In 3 bovine experiments (body weight 70 ± 5 kg) partial cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was established, and two ventricular assist devices were implanted into a preperitoneal pocket on each side after connection to the right atrium and the pulmonary artery and to the left atrium and aorta, respectively.