Automatic system for noninvasive blood pressure determination in rotary pump recipients.

In patients with implanted rotary pumps, the arterial pressure pulsatility is usually far lower than in normal individuals. Depending on the remaining degree of pulsatility, cuff-based systems such as the classical Riva-Rocci-determination of arterial blood pressure and correlated sounds or pressure measurements based on cuffpressure oscillations become inaccurate or even impossible. Therefore, a system was developed which evaluates the flow in the radial artery using an ultrasound wristwatch sensor, and this additional information is used for pressure determination.

Long-term in vivo left ventricular assist device study for 284 days with Gyro PI pump.

A totally implantable centrifugal artificial heart has been developed. The plastic prototype, the Gyro PI 601, passed 2 day hemodynamic tests as a functional total artificial heart (TAH), 2 week screening tests for anti-thrombogenecity, and a 1 month system feasibility study. Based upon these results, a metallic prototype, the Gyro PI 700 series, was subjected to long-term in vivo left ventricular assist device (LVAD) studies of over 1 month.

Long-term in vivo left ventricular assist device study with a titanium centrifugal pump.

A totally implantable centrifugal artificial heart has been developed. The plastic prototype, Gyro PI 601, passed 2 day hemodynamic tests as a functional total artificial heart, 2 week screening tests for antithrombogenicity, and 1 month system feasibility. Based on these results, a metallic prototype, Gyro PI 702, was subjected to in vivo left ventricular assist device (LVAD) studies.

In vivo evaluation of the miniaturized Gyro centrifugal pump as an implantable ventricular assist device.

A miniaturized Gyro centrifugal pump has been developed to be incorporated into a totally implantable artificial heart. The Gyro PI (permanently implantable) model is a pivot bearing supported centrifugal pump with a priming volume of 20 ml. With the miniaturized actuator, the pump-actuator package has a height of 53 mm, a diameter of 65 mm, and a displacement volume of 145 ml.

Current progress in the development of a totally implantable Gyro centrifugal artificial heart.

A totally implantable centrifugal artificial heart has been developed using a miniaturized pivot bearing supported centrifugal pump (Gyro PI pump). The authors report current progress in its development. The Gyro PI-601 has a priming volume of 20 ml, weighs 100 g, has a height of 60 mm, and has a diameter of 65 mm.

Recent advances in the gyro centrifugal ventricular assist device.

The gyro pump was developed as an intermediate-term assist pump (C1E3) as well as a long-term centrifugal ventricular assist device (VAD). The antithrombogenic design concept of this pump was confirmed throughout three 1 month ex vivo studies. The normalized index of hemolysis (NIH) of this gyro C1E3 model was lower than that of the BP-80.

Anatomical consideration for an implantable centrifugal biventricular assist system.

A miniaturized pivot bearing-supported centrifugal blood pump (Gyro PI) has been developed as a long-term biventricular assist system (BiVAS). In this study we determined the anatomical configuration of this system using a bovine model. Under general anesthesia, a left lateral thoracotomy was performed to open the chest.

Flow measurement at the pump head of centrifugal pumps: comparison of ultrasonic transit time and ultrasonic Doppler systems.

Determination of blood flow is essential for monitoring rotary blood pumps. However, accurate measurement directly adjacent to the pump housing is difficult because of the highly irregular flow profiles near the fast spinning rotor. Therefore, a specially adapted flow probe based on the ultrasound transit time (USTT) principle was designed to evaluate the flow in centrifugal blood pumps.

Development and initial testing of a permanently implantable centrifugal pump.

To be able to salvage heart failure patients, the need for an economical permanent ventricular assist device is increasing. To meet this increasing demand, a miniaturized centrifugal blood pump has been developed as a permanently implantable device. The Gyro permanently implantable model (PI-601) incorporates a sealless design with a blood stagnation free structure.

A pivot bearing-supported centrifugal pump for a long-term assist heart.

A pivot bearing-supported centrifugal blood pump has been developed. It is a compact, cost effective, and anti-thrombogenic pump with anatomical compatibility. A preliminary evaluation of five paracorporeal left ventricular assist studies were performed on pre-conditioned bovine (70-100 kg), without cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross-clamping.

Flow characteristics and required control algorithm of an implantable centrifugal left ventricular assist device.

As the clinical application of LVADs has increased, attempts have been made to develop smaller, less expensive, more durable and efficient implantable devices using rotary blood pumps. Since chronic circulatory support with implantable continuous-flow LVADs will be established in the near future, we need to determine the flow characteristics through an implantable continuous-flow LVAD. This study describes the flow characteristics through an implantable centrifugal blood pump as a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to obtain a simple non-invasive algorithm to control its assist flow rate adequately.

An implantable seal-less centrifugal pump with integrated double-disk motor.

Thrombus formation and sealing problems at the shaft as well as the compact and efficient design of the driving unit have been major difficulties in the construction of a long-term implantable centrifugal pump. To eliminate the problems of the seal, motor size, and efficiency, two major steps were taken by modifying the Vienna implantable centrifugal pump. First, a special driving unit was developed, in which the permanent magnets of the motor themselves are used for coupling the force into the rotor.