Influence of biopump with and without intraaortic balloon on the coronary and carotid flow.

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of biopump used for left ventricular assistance on the coronary and carotid flows in dogs with normal heart. The efficacy of the simultaneous use of an intraaortic balloon pump to compensate the possible deleterious effects of the circulatory assistance with continuous flow was also analyzed.
Methods: Fifteen dogs were studied. The hemodynamic evaluation included serial measurements of the classic parameters. Carotid and coronary blood flows were obtained by electromagnetic transducers.
Results: The hemodynamic evaluation did not show significant statistical changes. The use of circulatory-isolated assistance with biopump shows reduction (24.6% +/- 6.1%) in coronary flow, in relation to the control situation and the concomitant use of biopump and intraaortic balloon pump showed similar coronary flow. Regarding carotid flow, a similar trend was observed in relation to the positive influence of the pulsatile flow with an intraaortic balloon pump without statistical significance (p = 0.0582).
Conclusions: The biopump reduces the coronary flow in dogs. The use of intraaortic balloon pump with the biopump increases the coronary flow significantly, reaching similar values to those observed without the circulatory assistance.