Development of the total artificial heart control system.

Sympathetic neurogram is potentially useful for the real time total artificial heart (TAH) control system. In this study, we used sympathetic tone and hemodynamic derivatives to prospect the following cardiac output in acute animal experiments using adult mongrel dogs. Moving averages of the mean left atrial pressure and mean aortic pressure were used as the parameters of the preload and afterload, respectively. Renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) was also utilized as the parameter of the sympathetic tone. Equation which prospect the following cardiac output was calculated using the multiple linear regression analysis of the time series data in adult mongrel dogs. A significant correlation was observed between the prospective and following measured cardiac output. These results suggest the potential usefulness of the sympathetic neurogram for the real time TAH automatic control system.