title: Physiological adaptation to a nonpulsatile biventricular assist system.
abstract: Physiological adaptation of the recipient to a nonpulsatile biventricular assist system (NPBVAS) is not well understood. The aim of this study is to evaluate the physiological adaptation of experimental animals after NPBVAS implantation. Since May 2001, four long-term NPBVAS implant experiments in calves were performed. The blood gas and hemodynamic data were analyzed retrospectively. An additional prospective experiment was performed to confirm retrospective findings. All calves (n = 5) lived longer than 5 weeks without complication. In retrospective analysis, there was not a correlation between the O2 content and total blood flow in the pulmonary artery during the 1st postoperative week, but they began to correlate within the 2nd postoperative week. Then, there was a strong correlation after the 3rd postoperative week (r = 0.753). In the prospective experiment, O2 content related to total pulmonary flow after 2 weeks (r = 0.732) was the same as in the retrospective study. Most of the hemodynamic parameters studied became normalized after 14 days. In addition, easier controllability of the blood pumps was demonstrated after the 2nd postoperative week in all five experiments. Experimental results suggested that the native healthy heart accepted NPBVAS by reducing its cardiac output in 2 weeks. In addition, complicated control of the BPVAS was not necessary after 2 weeks of implantation. These results demonstrate the possibility of physiological adaptation to the NPBVAS being established within 2 postoperative weeks.
authors.affiliation: Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Artificial Organs Research Laboratory, Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Murai
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: Kuniyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shinohara
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glueck
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Motomura
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishitoya
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ashizawa
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sumikura
authors.forename: Fumiyuki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ichihashi
authors.forename: Yukihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nosé
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D001775:Blood Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D002417:Cattle; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen