Portable and modular cardiopulmonar bypass apparatus and associated aortic balloon catheter and associated method

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The aortic balloon catheter of the present invention meets the above mentioned needs.
The catheter includes an elongated tube device formed with a first lumen sized to communicate blood between an aortic lumen of a patient and a location external to the aortic lumen.
Mounted on the tube device is an inflatable balloon sized to, when fully inflated, sealingly engage the walls of the aortic lumen of an adult human to thereby block blood flow past the balloon.
The associated method of using the aortic balloon catheter includes introducing the catheter into the aortic lumen, positioning the first lumen and the balloon, inflating the balloon and withdrawing and perfusing fluids through the first lumen.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for CPB which is portable such that it can be used at the scene of an accident or of a patient having cardiac arrest or other life threatening emergency.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus that provides life saving CPB at the earliest possible time either inside or outside a hospital.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a portable CPB apparatus that can be adapted to contain several blood conditioning modules.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an aortic balloon catheter module associated with the CPB apparatus to provide differential perfusion of selective regions of a patient's body.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a massive blood infusor module to supplement or replace a patient's blood.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a blood heat exchanger to control the temperature of a patient's blood.
These and other objects of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description of the invention with reference to the drawings appended to this application.