Influence of continuous circulatory support of HeartCon type left ventricular assist device(LVAD) on liver and kidney function in experimental animals / 国际生物医学工程杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To determine the adverse effects of continuous circulatory support on liver and kidney function in experimental animals using left ventricular assist devices (LVAD).Methods:Six healthy experimental sheep were selected and implanted with HeartCon type LVAD. The liver and kidney indexes of experimental sheep before and 70 days after operation were detected, including urea (UREA), creatinine (CREA), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and total bilirubin (TBIL), and the functional changes of liver and kidney were evaluated.Results:The preoperative levels of UREA, CREA, ALT, AST and TBIL in the six experimental sheep were (4.60±1.51) mmol/L, (94.80±23.10) μmol/L, (16.20±6.87) U/L, (82.60±17.33) U/L, and (0.52±0.25) μmol/L, respectively. Compared with the indexes before the LVAD implantation, there was no significant change in CREA levels in experimental sheep after the implantation (all P>0.05). After the implantation, the levels of UREA, ALT, AST and TBIL increased to varying degrees within 1 to 14 days after the implantation. At the end of the study, the levels of UREA, ALT, AST and TBIL have returned to the preoperative levels, and the differences were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). Conclusions:Within the 70 days of continuous circulatory support with HeartCon-type LVAD, no evidence of adverse effects of continuous flow LVAD on the liver and kidney function of experimental animals was found. HeartCon-type LVADs are able to provide adequate circulatory support to maintain proper end-organ function.