Coronary hemodynamics and myocardial oxygen consumption during support with rotary blood pumps

Mechanical support offered by rotary pumps is increasingly used to assist the failing heart, although several questions concerning physiology remain. In this study, we sought to evaluate the effect of left-ventricular assist device (VAD) therapy on coronary hemodynamics, myocardial oxygen consumption, and pulmonary blood flow in sheep. We performed an acute experiment in 10 sheep to obtain invasively measured coronary perfusion data, as well as pressure and flow conditions under cardiovascular assistance. A DeBakey VAD (MicroMed Cardiovascular, Inc., Houston, TX, USA) was implanted, and systemic and coronary hemodynamic measurements were performed at defined baseline conditions and at five levels of assistance. Data were measured when the pump was clamped, as well as under minimum, maximum, and moderate levels of assistance, and in a pump-off condition where backflow occurs. Coronary flow at the different levels of support showed no significant impact of pump activity. The change from baseline ranged from -10.8% to +4.6% (not significant [n.s.]). In the pulmonary artery, we observed a consistent increase in flow up to +4.5% (n.s.) and a decrease in the pulmonary artery pressure down to -14.4% (P = 0.004). Myocardial oxygen consumption fell with increasing pump support down to -34.6% (P = 0.008). Left-ventricular pressure fell about 52.2% (P = 0.016) as support was increased. These results show that blood flow in the coronary arteries is not affected by flow changes imposed by rotary blood pumps. An undiminished coronary perfusion at falling oxygen consumption might contribute to cardiac recovery.