Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to study whether or not diaphragm pacing can reduce afterload of the right heart after cardiac surgery in the acute experiments.
In the preliminary experiments, 10 animals were used. Bilateral diaphragm pacing showed decreases in pulmonary arterial (PAP), superior vena caval (SVCP) and left atrial pressure (LAP) and also increase in pulmonary arterial blood flow (PABF). Then cavo-pulmonary arterial anastomosis was made to simulate the failing right side of the heart, using 6 animals in the experiments. During diaphragm pacing only to the right side, mSVCP (-12%), mLAP (-21%), rPAP (-15%) decreased, SVC-rPA blood flow (+23%) increased and thus rPAR (-28%) reduced.
These results suggest diaphragm pacing is useful in reducing afterload of the right heart due, in part, to negative pressure in the chest cavity by diaphragm pacing.
