Totally implantable ventricular assist system that can increase brain blood flow

In the clinical usage of the ventricular assist device (VAD), multiple orga n failure becomes an important problem. To improve the clinical record of t he VAD, another organ function may be vitally important. For that reason. w e have been developing a VAD system aiming at improving another organ's fun ction. Development of the vibrating flow pump (VFP), which can generate a v ery unique Row pattern from 10 Hz to 50 Hz, was ongoing in our Institute. I n order to evaluate brain blood flow and oxygen consumption, HbO(2) was mea sured with a NIRO monitoring device in healthy adult goats. Four goats were anesthetized with halothane inhalation, then left thoracotomy was performe d for the left heart bypass. HbO(2) of the brain was measured by recording of the hemodynamic variables during left heart assistance with the VFP syst em. During left heart bypass with the VFP system, hemodynamic parameters st ayed within normal range, and satisfactory pump output was easily obtained. Pump output stayed within 20-40% bypass to evaluate the effect of high fre quency oscillated assist now on brain blood flow during the same cardiac ou tput. interesting results were observed during the experiments. During 30 H z drive of the VFP left heart assistance, HbO(2) suggested that brain blood flow significantly increased compared with another drive frequency assista nce during the same total cardiac output. These results suggest that we can control the brain blood flow with a totally implantable VAD system such as the VFP system.