Ventricular Flow Dynamics With an Intra-Ventricular Balloon Pump: An In Vitro Analysis.

Due to the high treatment costs associated with durable ventricular assist devices, an intra-ventricular balloon pump (IVBP) was developed to provide low-cost, short-term support for patients suffering from severe heart failure. It is imperative that intraventricular flow dynamics are evaluated with an IVBP to ensure stagnation points, and potential regions for thrombus formation, are avoided. This study used particle image velocimetry to evaluate flow patterns within the left ventricle of a simulated severe heart failure patient with IVBP support to assess left ventricle pulsatility as an indicator of the likelihood of flow stasis.

Assessing potential for aortoiliac vascular injury from venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cannulae: An in vitro particle image velocimetry study.

Limb ischemia is a major complication associated with peripheral venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO). The high velocity jet from arterial cannulae can cause "sandblasting" injuries to the arterial endothelium, with the potential risk of distal embolization and end organ damage. The aim of this study was to identify, for a range of clinically relevant VA-ECMO cannulae and flow rates, any regions of peak flow velocity on the aortic wall which may predispose to vascular injury, and any regions of low-velocity flow which may predispose to thrombus formation.

Evaluation of an intraventricular balloon pump for short-term support of patients with heart failure.

The high cost of ventricular assist devices results in poor cost-effectiveness when used as a short-term bridging solution, thus a low-cost alternative is desirable. The present study aimed to develop an intraventricular balloon pump (IVBP) for short-term circulatory support, and to evaluate the effect of balloon actuation timing on the degree of cardiac support provided to a simulated in vitro severe heart failure (SHF) patient. A silicone IVBP was designed to avoid contact with internal left ventricular (LV) features (ie, papillary muscles, chordae, aortic, and mitral valves) based on LV computed tomography data of 10 SHF patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Development of a cardiac loading device to monitor cardiac function during ex vivo graft perfusion.

Background: Ex vivo heart perfusion systems, allowing continuous perfusion of the coronary vasculature, have recently been introduced to limit ischemic time of donor hearts prior to transplantation. Hearts are, however, perfused in an unloaded manner (via the aorta) and therefore, cardiac contractile function cannot be reliably evaluated.

Objectives: We aim to develop a ventricular loading device that enables monitoring of myocardial function in an ex vivo perfusion system.

Evaluation of effectiveness of a continuing education program on antimicrobial susceptibility testing.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a course designed to increase use of the most recently published Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) and reporting.

Design: A one-day continuing education course in AST was designed and delivered at multiple sites. Data collected from course evaluations, pre- and post-tests, and pre- and post-practices assessments were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training.