[A centrifugal pump used as a support of left ventricular pumping function after extracorporeal circulation]

The first Danish employment of a centrifugal pump for relief of the left ventricle after open heart surgery is presented. A man aged 72 years with three-vessel coronary arteriosclerosis was submitted to a coronary by-pass operation. At the conclusion of the operation, the pumping capacity of the heart was found to be so reduced that it was not possible to maintain an adequate minute-volume without support from a mechanical pump. The circulation in this patient was supported for four hours by means of an outflow catheter from the left atrium and an inflow catheter in the ascending aorta. After this, the patient's own heart could achieve the necessary minute-volume. The remainder of the postoperative course was uncomplicated.