The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 80, 38-44, Copyright © 1980 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Intra-aortic ballon pump for relief of aortic regurgitation. Experimental study
SD Moulopoulos, LP Anthopoulos, PG Antonatos, PN Adamopoulos and JN Nanas
Backflow from the aorta to the left ventricle during diastole in aortic
regurgitation can be reduced by expanding, during diastole, a small air
balloon positioned in the ascending aorta downstream to the regurgitant
valve. A spherical catheter-mounted balloon, acting as a prosthetic aortic
valve for the correction of acute aortic regurgitation, was tested in 12
dogs. This "valve" was actively inflated and deflated by means of a common
intra-aortic balloon pumping system (Datascope). A significant increase of
end-diastolic pressure in the descending aorta, from 51.72 +/- 1.72 to
70.35 +/- 1.92 mm Hg (mean +/- standard error, p less than 0.001), was
obtained, without a significant pressure gradient across the "valve". The
"valve" prevented the backward flow of the descending aorta by up to 100%,
so that there was a mean increase in t- e effective forward flow of 12.61
+/- 5.27% (mean +/- standard error, p less than 0.05). Coronary arterial
flow changes varied during the application of the "valve." They depended
directly on the changes of the diastolic component of the flow velocity
wave, and this relationship was significant (x2 = 33.04, p less than
0.0001). Contractility indices were not significantly affected during the
function of the "valve." It is suggested that the spherical "valve" mounted
on a catheter may easily be inserted without thoracotomy for a temporary
satisfactory correction of the aortic regurgitation.
