Assisted circulation following myocardial infarction: a review of 25 patients treated before 1971

Abstract Twenty-five patients with impending death from myocardial infarction were treated with assisted circulation. Of these, 19 had suffered cardiac arrest from which they could not be resuscitated and six were in severe, intractable and expectedly terminal cardiogenic shock. All patients were treated by venoarterial bypass employing a bubble oxygenator. Assistance was continued for an average duration of one hour and 45 minutes at a flow rate between two and four litres per minute. The patients all showed improved cerebral, pulmonary and renal function and acid-base values returned to normal. Five patients survived for at least one month and two were improved; hence 28% of these otherwise terminal patients were helped by this technique of assisted circulation.