Right ventricular balloon pumping.

Right ventricular balloon pumping (RVBP), i.e., using a balloon inserted into the right ventricular cavity to expel the blood into the pulmonary artery, was developed in this study. The balloon, which had an unstretched volume of approximately 15 ml, was made of polyurethane. In this experiment the balloon was inserted into the right ventricle via the right auricle or the apical area of the right ventricle. It was found that even when the natural heart was not beating, the pulmonary arterial blood flow could be maintained above 80 ml/min . kg body weight and the central venous pressure could be kept normal by combining RVBP and LVA. When the natural heart was beating but weak, the amount of increase of the pulmonary arterial blood flow induced by the application of RVBP depended on the degree of right heart failure, but RVBP could supply a sufficient flow rate to compensate for the failure of the right ventricle. Regurgitation through the tricuspid valve was scarcely ever found during RVBP.