Patent ID: 7468050

Claim:
A long-term ambulatory intra-aortic balloon pump system for providing left ventricular cardiac assistance to a patient comprising: an external drive system for supplying a compressed fluid, the drive system operating in accordance with a control program stored in memory; and an intra-luminal balloon pump having at least two elongate inflatable chambers, the intra-luminal balloon pump positionable to be lying completely within a descending aorta of the patient, the at least two elongate inflatable chambers connectible in fluid communication for simultaneously inflating and deflating the at least two elongate chambers synchronously with a heartbeat of the patient in accordance with the control program stored in memory of the external drive system, wherein the at least two elongate inflatable chambers are configured in series along a conduit with adjacent elongate inflatable chambers longitudinally interposed with a flexible conduit link, the configuration allowing individual chambers to align relationship with along a local longitudinal axis of a corresponding local segment of surrounding aortic lumen in a non-planar, non-uniform radius of curvature relationship, and wherein the elongate inflatable chambers are individually sized such that an inflated chamber does not increase a cross-section of the local segment of surrounding aorta.