Centrifugal blood pump with a hydraulically-levitated impeller for a permanently implantable biventricular assist device.
A permanently implantable biventricular assist device (BVAD) system has been developed with a centrifugal pump which is activated by a hydraulically-levitated impeller. The pump impeller floats hydraulically into the top contact position; this position prevents thrombus formation by creating a washout effect at the bottom bearing area, a common stagnant region. The pump was subjected to in vitro studies using a pulsatile mock circulation loop to confirm the impeller's top contact position and the swinging motion produced by the pulsation. Eleven in vivo BVAD studies confirmed that this swinging motion eliminated blood clot formation. Twenty-one pumps im-planted for up to three months did not reveal any thrombosis in the pumps or downstream organs. One exception was a right pump which was exposed to severe low flow due to the kinking of the outflow graft by the accidental pulling of the flow meter cable. Three ninety-day BVAD studies were achieved without thrombus formation.
Watanabe
Kuniyoshi
K
DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, U.S.A.
Ichikawa
Seiji
S
Asai
Toshimasa
T
Motomura
Tadashi
T
Hata
Atsushi
A
Ito
Seiichi
S
Shinohara
Toshiyuki
T
Tsujimura
Shinichi
S
Glueck
Julia A
JA
Oestmann
Daniel J
DJ
Nosé
Yukihiko
Y
D000818:Animals; D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D002417:Cattle; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D020007:Implants, Experimental; D008422:Materials Testing; D023421:Models, Animal; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity