Pulsatile Blood Flow from Impeller Pump: A Dream Has Come True

Abstract

For decades many investigations have been made on producing a pulsatile blood flow with an impeller pump. It has been foiled because of excessive hemolysis. Other investigators foretold that a pulsatile centrifugal pump is impossible in the near future, without increasing the complexity of the system remarkably. The author has presevered in this study and made progress steadily. An axial pulsatile impeller pump with constant-rotating speed was developed, in which the impeller reciprocates along its axis while rotates. Meanwhile, a pulsatile implantable impeller centrifugal pump is now in animal surviving experimental stage. The pulsatility of the blood flow is achieved by changing the rotating speed of the impeller periodically, via introducing a square wave form voltage into the motor coil. The hemodynamic and physiological superiorities to both nonpulsatile impeller pump and diaphragm pump were demonstrated. The hematological and biochemical data indicated low hemolysis and thrombogenesis, low renal and heptic dysfunction. Furthermore, a pulsatile implantable impeller total heart has completed its acute biventricular assist animal experiments. This is an almost unique total heart at the present, it is driven by a single motor, the left and right pumps eject the blood simultaneously, and the volume equilibrium of both pumps is achieved naturally. The dream of producing a pulsatile blood flow with an impeller pump has come true. Doubtlessly, an impeller heart with simplicity, pulsatility, implantability, compatibility and reliability, will be a viable alternative to diaphragm heart, really.