Fig. 1

Illustration of the experimental setup. (A) Animals were prepared as illustrated here and received either resuscitation by an Impella pLVAD (ICPR) or veno-arterial ECMO (ECPR). (B) The flowchart visualizes the individual steps of the experiment: after completion of the preparation, the animals were exposed to electrically induced cardiac arrest for 5 min via the induction of ventricular fibrillation (VF). Depending on the treatment group, Impella (ICPR) or veno-arterial ECMO (ECPR) was then used for resuscitation. After the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), the animals were observed for 5 h until the devices were stopped, and the animals were sacrificed 6 h post-ROSC. Echocardiography was performed at the indicated time points during the experiment. CPR cardiopulmonary resuscitation; ECMO extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; pLVAD percutaneous left ventricular assist device; ROSC return of spontaneous circulation; VF ventricular fibrillation (created with BioRender.com).