Circulatory Assistance and Emergency Direct Coronary Artery Surgery for Shock Complicating Acute Myocardial Infarction

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Abstract
CUMULATIVE experience has shown that the mortality of persistent shock complicating acute myocardial infarction is in the range of 75 to 80 per cent despite the prompt institution of therapy with vasopressor and inotropic agents.1 2 3 Patients who fail to respond to these therapeutic measures have a mortality of virtually 100 per cent.4 Diastolic augmentation of arterial pressure by electrocardiographically synchronized phasic inflation and deflation of a segmented balloon inserted into the descending thoracic aorta via the femoral artery has been established as an effective method of mechanical circulatory assistance. This technic has been shown to be of value as a . . .