241 results about "Ventricular assistance" patented technology

Methods and apparatus for controlling the operation of, and providing power for and to, implantable ventricular assist devices which includes a pump employing a brushless DC motor-driven blood pump, are disclosed. In one embodiment, a control system for driving an implantable blood pump is provided. The digital processor is responsive to data associated with the operation of the pump received at the data transfer pump, and from program data stored in the memory, (i) to determine therefrom, the identity of the pump, (ii) to determine therefrom, electrical characteristics and features of the identified pump, and (iii) to adaptively generate and apply to the data port, control signals for driving the identified pump.

An apparatus for assisting the function of a heart disposed within a body. The apparatus can apply a compressive force and an expansive force to a portion of the outer wall of the heart. The apparatus can comprise a cup-shaped shell having an exterior wall, an interior wall, an apex, and an upper edge; a liner having an outer surface and an inner surface, an upper edge joined to the interior wall of the cup-shaped shell, and a lower edge joined to the interior wall of the cup-shaped shell, thereby forming a cavity between the outer surface thereof and the interior wall of the shell; and a drive fluid within the cavity. The drive fluid can apply a force on a portion of the outer wall of the heart.

A ventricular assist device includes a pump such as an axial flow pump, an outflow cannula connected to the outlet of the pump, and an anchor element. The anchor element is physically connected to the pump, as by an elongate element. The pump is implanted within the left ventricle with the outflow cannula projecting through the aortic valve but desirably terminating short of the aortic arch. The anchor element is fixed to the wall of the heart near the apex of the heart so that the anchor element holds the pump and outflow cannula in position.

A tiny electrically powered hydrodynamic blood pump is disclosed which occupies one third of the aortic or pulmonary valve position, and pumps directly from the left ventricle to the aorta or from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery. The device is configured to exactly match or approximate the space of one leaflet and sinus of valsalva, with part of the device supported in the outflow tract of the ventricular cavity adjacent to the valve. In the configuration used, two leaflets of the natural tri-leaflet valve remain functional and the pump resides where the third leaflet had been. When implanted, the outer surface of the device includes two faces against which the two valve leaflets seal when closed. To obtain the best valve function, the shape of these faces may be custom fabricated to match the individual patient's valve geometry based on high resolution three dimensional CT or MRI images. Another embodiment of the invention discloses a combined two leaflet tissue valve with the miniature blood pump supported in the position usually occupied by the third leaflet. Either stented or un-stented tissue valves may be used. This structure preserves two thirds of the valve annulus area for ejection of blood by the natural ventricle, with excellent washing of the aortic root and interface of the blood pump to the heart. In the aortic position, the blood pump is positioned in the non-coronary cusp. A major advantage of the transvalvular VAD is the elimination of both the inflow and outflow cannulae usually required with heart assist devices.

The invention is a kit for a permanent ventricular assist device that can be permanently implanted into the circulatory system of a patient. The kit comprises one or more passive cores (Pcore), a stator, a power supply, and a controller unit. The inventors have realized that major open heart surgery, generally used for implementing a magnetic blood pump in the circulatory system, can be wholly avoided if the rotor and the stator are physically separated and are implanted respectively inside and around the blood vessel at the location of interest. Therefore the kit is characterized in that the one or more Pcores are configured to allow them to be implanted inside a blood vessel and the stator is configure to enable it to be placed outside of the blood vessel surrounding the Pcores. Also described are illustrative medical procedures for implanting the components of the kit at different locations in the body.