Bypass balloon pumping: a newly developed device for mechanical circulatory support in heart failure

Various types of assist devices have been developed for severe heart failures. Among them, intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP) has achieved popularity, mainly in the treatment of patients with either severe cardiac infarction or low cardiac output syndrome (LOS) after open-heart surgery. However, IABP has a limitation in that although it acts as a pressure support, it cannot directly support flow volume. In cases of severe pump failure, stronger pump support would be required. However, there is a limit in the clinical use of temporary mechanical support using a pump because of the costs of the expensive equipment. With this in mind, we came up with a new idea in which the motion of a balloon in IABP system is converted into a power source for creating a one-way stream. In order to realize our idea, we made a J-shaped sample model of pulsating chamber incorporating two ball valves. In the hydrodynamic experiment using our new device, flows over 2500 ml/min (Max. 3475 ml/min) were obtained. The percent changes in parameters such as TTI, DPTI and bypass flows obtained by the experiment of left ventricular bypass have demonstrated that our assist system is effective for reducing cardiac work.