Computational analyses of aortic blood flow under varying speed CF-LVAD support.

Continuous Flow Left Ventricular Assist Devices (CF-LVADs) generally operate at a constant speed whilst supporting a failing heart. However, constant speed CF-LVAD support may cause complications and increase the morbidity rates in the patients. Therefore, different varying speed operating modes for CF-LVADs have been proposed to generate more physiological blood flow, which may reduce complication rates under constant speed CF-LVAD support.

Effect of LVAD outlet graft anastomosis angle on the aortic valve, wall, and flow.

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), which pump blood from the left ventricle to the aorta are an important therapy option for patients with end-stage cardiovascular diseases. Recent publications show that even with optimized LVADs fatal complications can occur because of the blood deformations around the inflow cannula or through the LVAD outlet graft-aorta anastomosis. This study investigates the effects of the anastomosis geometry on the flow through the aorta, on the pressure and wall shear stress (WSS) distributions on the aortic wall and on the total entropy generation in the anastomosis region.