org/misc/health/images/%7B4299699D-719F-4982-A2C3-BE8335FF535B%7D.JPG The device depicted in Figure 1 above functions by synchronizing inflations and deflations of the balloon with the patient's natural heartbeat, thereby increasing diastolic aortic pressure that facilitates diastolic blood flow to the vital organs and coronary arteries (Unverzagt, Buerke, de Waha, Haerting, Pietzner et al
3). In response to the need for effective treatments for acute myocardial infarctions in the early 1960s, the intra-aortic balloon pump was developed and originally introduced in a clinical setting in 1967 (Wilansky & Willerson, 2007)