title: Quantitative haemodynamic evaluation of aortic cannulas.
abstract: We have designed a new type of aortic cannula for extracorporeal circulation which we hypothesize has superior haemodynamic characteristics compared with existing types. The aim of the study was to perform a quantitative evaluation of the haemodynamic performance of commercially available aortic cannulas against our new design. Six existing cannulas and two self-designed, modified DLP cannulas were investigated. Pressure drop, peak velocity and wall thickness were obtained from in vitro experiments. Pressure drop and turbulent stresses were obtained by in vivo experiments. At 5 L/min the pressure drops of the new design were 18-25 mmHg in vitro and 20 mmHg in vivo compared with 25-92 mmHg in vitro and 28-90 mmHg in vivo for the six commercially available cannulas. Turbulent stresses of the new design varied between 25 and 50 N/m2 in vivo compared with 125-500 N/m2. Both in vivo and in vitro results showed a clear haemodynamic superiority of the new cannula-tip design compared with all existing types.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Aarhus University Hospital, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mia N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ringgaard
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hasenkam
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nygaard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta; D002404:Catheterization / Q000592:standards*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005112:Extracorporeal Circulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006439:Hemodynamics; D011312:Pressure; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013552:Swine