Cerebral hemodynamics with intra-aortic balloon pump: business as usual?

Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) is commonly used as mechanical support after cardiac surgery or cardiac shock. Although its benefits for cardiac function have been well documented, its effects on cerebral circulation are still controversial. We hypothesized that transfer function analysis (TFA) and continuous estimates of dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA) provide consistent results in the assessment of cerebral autoregulation in patients with IABP.

Continuous recordings of blood pressure (BP, intra-arterial line), end-tidal CO₂, heart rate and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV, transcranial Doppler) were obtained (i) 5 min with IABP ratio 1:3, (ii) 5 min, starting 1 min with the IABP-ON, and continuing for another 4 min without pump assistance (IABP-OFF). Autoregulation index (ARI) was estimated from the CBFV response to a step change in BP derived by TFA and as a function of time using an autoregressive moving-average model during removal of the device (ARI _t ). Critical closing pressure and resistance area-product were also obtained.

ARI with IABP-ON (4.3  ±  1.2) were not different from corresponding values at IABP-OFF (4.7  ±  1.4, p  =  0.42). Removal of the balloon had no effect on ARI _t , CBFV, BP, cerebral critical closing pressure or resistance area-product.

IABP does not disturb cerebral hemodynamics. TFA and continuous estimates of dynamic CA can be used to assess cerebral hemodynamics in patients with IABP. These findings have important implications for the design of studies of critically ill patients requiring the use of different invasive support devices.