Intra aortic balloon parameters: observation from a mathematical model

The purpose of this investigation was to examine intra aortic balloon timing parameters and theirs effects on the hemodynamic response of the cardiovascular system using a mathematical model. In particular we examined the relationship between deflation speed, deflation timing delay and the resulting hemodynamic parameters. Balloon deflation speeds examined here were 50 ms (fast) and 200 ms (slow). These were chosen to represent the typical ranges in clinical device speeds. For each balloon speed we then adjusted the deflation time with respect to the onset of left ventricular pressure (LVP) so that key parameters of mean systolic pressure (MSP) and mean diastolic pressure (MDP) were optimized. The optimal deflation time for the slow balloon was much earlier than the fast balloon (as expected). However when the MDP and MSP of both situations are compared, we find that the differences are small. Because the speed of a balloon is directly related to its overall catheter diameter, it may be important to more closely evaluate these conditions.