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Noninvasive measurements of blood pressure (BP) and cardiac output (CO) are crucial in the follow-up of continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (CF-LVAD) patients. For our pilot study, we sought to compare BP measurements between a tonometry blood pressure pulse analyzer (BPPA) (DMP-Life, DAEYOMEDI Co., Ltd., Gyeonggi-do, South Korea) and Doppler ultrasound in CF-LVAD patients, as well as to compare the BPPA estimated CO to LVAD calculated blood flow and to the patient's intrinsic CO estimated with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). Ambulatory CF-LVAD patients (6 HeartMate, 26 HeartMate II), were included. According to TTE findings, patients were then subdivided in two groups: patients with an opening aortic valve (OAV) [n = 21] and those with an intermittent opening aortic valve (IOAV) [n = 11]. We found a very good correlation of systolic BP (SBP) measurements between the two methods, BPPA and Doppler ultrasound (r = 0.87, P < 0.0001). Bland-Altman plots for SBP revealed a low bias of -4.6 mm Hg and SD of ±4.7 mm Hg. In CF-LVAD patients with IOAV, the BPPA-CO had a good correlation with the LVAD-flow (r = 0.78, P < 0.0001), but in OAV patients, there was no correlation. After adding the patient's intrinsic CO, estimated from TTE in patients with OAV to the LVAD-flow, we found a very good correlation between the BPPA-CO and LVAD-flow + TTE-CO (r = 0.81, P = 0.002). Our study demonstrated that compared with the standard clinical method, Doppler ultrasound, the BPPA measured BP noninvasively with good accuracy and precision of agreement. In addition, tonometry BPPA provided further valuable information regarding the CF-LVAD patient's intrinsic CO., (© 2018 International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Bedside non-invasive techniques, such as radial artery tonometry, to estimate hemodynamic parameters have gained increased relevance as an attractive alternative and efficient method to measure hemodynamics in outpatient departments. For our pilot study, we sought to compare cardiac output (CO), and stroke volume (SV) estimated from a radial artery tonometry blood pressure pulse analyzer (BPPA) (DMP-Life, DAEYOMEDI Co., Gyeonggi-do, South Korea) to pulsed-wave Doppler (PWD) echocardiography derived parameters., Methods: From January 2015 to December 2016, all patients scheduled for coronary artery bypass (CABG) surgery at our department were screened. Exclusion criteria were, inter alia, moderate to severe aortic- or Mitral valve disease and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) > stage II. One hundred and seven patients were included (mean age 66.1 ± 9.9, 15 females, mean BMI 27.2 ± 4.1 kg/m 2 ). All patients had pre-operative transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). We measured the hemodynamic parameters with the BPPA from the radial artery, randomly before or after TTE. For the comparison between the measurement methods we used the Bland-Altman test and Pearson correlation., Results: Mean TTE-CO was 5.1 ± 0.96 L/min, and the mean BPPA-CO was 5.2 ± 0.85 L/min. The Bland-Altman analysis for CO revealed a bias of -0.13 L/min and SD of 0.90 L/min with upper and lower limits of agreement of -1.91 and +1.64 L/min. The correlation of CO measurements between DMP-life and TTE was poor ( r  = 0.501, p  < 0.0001). The mean TTE-SV was 71.3 ± 16.2 mL and the mean BPPA-SV was 73.8 ± 19.2 mL. SV measurements correlated very well between the two methods ( r  = 0.900, p  < 0.0001). The Bland-Altman analysis for SV revealed a bias of -2.54 mL and SD of ±8.42 mL and upper and lower limits of agreement of -19.05 and +13.96 mL, respectively., Conclusion: Our study shows for the first time that the DMP-life tonometry device measures SV and CO with reasonable accuracy and precision of agreement compared with TTE in preoperative cardiothoracic surgery patients. Tonometry BPPA are relatively quick and simple measuring devices, which facilitate the collection of cardiac and hemodynamic information. Further studies with a larger number of patients and with repeated measurements are in progress to test the reliability and repeatability of DMP-Life system., Competing Interests: HeeJung Kang is an employee of DAEYOMEDI Co. Ltd.

Mock heart circulation loops (MHCLs) serve as in-vitro platforms to investigate the physiological interaction between circulatory systems and cardiovascular devices. A mock heart (MH) engineered with silicone walls and helical aramid fibers, to mimic the complex contraction of a natural heart, has been developed to advance the MHCL previously developed in our group. A mock aorta with an anatomical shape enables the evaluation of a cannulation method for ventricular assist devices (VADs) and investigation of the usage of clinical measurement systems like pressure-volume catheters. Ventricle and aorta molds were produced based on MRI data and cast with silicone. Aramid fibers were layered in the silicone ventricle to reproduce ventricle torsion. A rotating hollow shaft was connected to the apex enabling the rotation of the MH and the connection of a VAD. Silicone wall thickness, aramid fiber angle and fiber pitch were varied to generate different MH models. All MH models were placed in a tank filled with variable amounts of water and air simulating the compliance. In this work, physiological ventricular torsion angles (15°-26°) and physiological pressure-volume loops were achieved. This MHCL can serve as a comprehensive testing platform for cardiovascular devices, such as artificial heart valves and cannulation of VADs.

Right heart failure (RHF), e.g. due to pulmonary hypertension (PH), is a serious health issue with growing occurrence and high mortality rate. Limited efficacy of medication in advanced stages of the disease constitutes the need for mechanical circulatory support of the right ventricle (RV). An essential contribution to the process of developing right ventricular assist devices (RVADs) is the in vitro test bench, which simulates the hemodynamic behavior of the native circulatory system. To model healthy and diseased arterial-pulmonary hemodynamics in adults (mild and severe PH and RHF), a right heart mock circulation loop (MCL) was developed. Incorporating an anatomically shaped silicone RV and a silicone atrium, it not only enables investigations of hemodynamic values but also suction events or the handling of minimal invasive RVADs in an anatomical test environment. Ventricular pressure-volume loops of all simulated conditions as well as pressure and volume waveforms were recorded and compared to literature data. In an exemplary test, an RVAD was connected to the apex to further test the feasibility of studying such devices with the developed MCL. In conclusion, the hemodynamic behavior of the native system was well reproduced by the developed MCL, which is a useful basis for future RVAD tests.

A mock heart circulation loop (MHCL) is a hydraulic model simulating the human circulatory system. It allows in vitro investigations of the interaction between cardiac assist devices and the human circulatory system. In this study, a preload sensitive MHCL, the MHCL AUTO , was developed to investigate the interaction between the left ventricle and left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). The Frank-Starling mechanism was modeled by regulating the stroke volume (SV) based on the measured mean diastolic left atrial pressure (MLAP diast ). The baroreflex autoregulation mechanism was implemented to maintain a constant mean aortic pressure (MAP) by varying ventricular contractility (E max ), heart rate (HR), afterload/systemic vascular resistance (SVR) and unstressed venous volume (UVV). The DP3 blood pump (Medos Medizintechnik GmbH) was used to simulate the LVAD. Characteristic parameters were measured in pathological conditions both with and without LVAD to assess the hemodynamic effect of LVAD on the MHCL AUTO . The results obtained from the MHCL AUTO show a high correlation to literature data. The study demonstrates the possibility of using the MHCL AUTO as a research tool to better understand the physiological interactions between cardiac implants and human circulation., (Copyright © 2015 International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Objectives: Real-time monitoring of the aortic valve function and the loading state of the left ventricle (LV) during mechanical circulatory support is essential. Therefore, we developed a system that determines accurately the aortic valve closing moment based on integrals derived from the pump inlet pressure and the pump power [pressure-power area (PPA)]., Methods: A Deltastream diagonal pump was implanted in 10 healthy Rhoen sheep. Changes in ventricular volume and pressure in different assist levels were measured by a conductance catheter placed in the LV and were correlated with intrinsic pump signals, motor power, voltage and current. Measurements were obtained in the state of normal as well as decreased left ventricular contractility induced by β-blockers., Results: Complete datasets were obtained in seven animals. The PPA-feedback signal reached its maximum at the speed of aortic valve closing. This was validated by pressure-volume (PV)-catheter measurements both at the baseline and in the state of decreased contractility. In both cases, zero-crossing occurred at the point of aortic valve closing speed., Conclusions: With this trial, we deliver the experimental basis for the development of an automatic feedback controller that would allow periodic speed changes in accordance with the loading state of the native ventricle and the opening state of the aortic valve. This would deliver real-time data to treating physicians and enable the establishment of a standard weaning protocol., (© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.)