The Sequential External Counter Pulsator: A New Circulatory Assist Device

The three goals of cardiac assistance are: (1) To maintain systemic blood flow; (2) To reduce cardiac work and tension development; and (3) To increase oxygen availability to the heart. Toward these ends, various devices and techniques have been developed, including several different types of vascular shunts in combination with or without extracorporeal oxygenation of blood, implantable auxiliary ventricle and augmentation of diastolic pressure by direct counter pulsation of blood through femoral cannulae or intra-aortic balloon. The sequenced counter pulsator is an external cardiac assist device being developed for the therapy of low output syndromes. Investigation in the laboratory has shown that it is capable of increasing cardiac output and diastolic systemic pressure with concomitant reduction in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. Therefore, it appears to be clinically useful in patients with low cardiac output syndromes.