Abstract
Background: In patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, inhaled nitric oxide (NO) decreases pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) but causes a potentially clinically significant increase in left atrial pressure (LAP). This has led to the suggestion that inhaled NO may reach the coronary circulation and have a negative inotropic effect. This study tested an alternative hypothesis that LAP increases because of volume shifts to the pulmonary venous compartment caused by NO-induced selective pulmonary vasodilation. Methods and Results: The Thermo Cardiosystems Heartmate is an LV assist device (LVAD) that can be set (by controlling pump rate) to deliver fixed or variable systemic blood flow. Eight patients (between 1 and 11 days after LVAD implantation) were administered inhaled NO (20 and 40 ppm for 10 minutes), and LAP, systemic flow, and pulmonary arterial pressure were measured in both fixed and variable pump flow modes. In both modes, inhaled NO lowered PVR (by 25±6% in the fixed mode, P
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2250-2253 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Circulation |
| Volume | 95 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| State | Published - 1997 |
Keywords
- assist device
- heart failure
- hypertension, pulmonary
- vasodilators
- ventricles
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physiology
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine