DEVELOPMENT OF A FLOW TRANSFORMED PULSATILE TOTAL ARTIFICIAL HEART FOR TOTAL IMPLANTATION

—MINIMIZATION OF ARTERIAL AND VENUOS BLOOD MIXTURE IN CONTINUOUS FLOW PUMP—

Abstract

To develop a totally implantable artificial heart, a new mechanism of pulsatile total artificial heart, Flow Transformed Pulsatile Total Artificial Heart (FTPTAH), was proposed. It could perfuse the pulmonary and systemic circulatory systems by pulsatile flow using only one continuous flow pump. In a mock circulation, the latest model using a centrifugal pump could produce alternatively 7.81/min of outputinto the pulmonary and systemic circulatory systems. However, the arterial and venous blood mixture in the pump was pointed out. The mixture rate was 30.6% in original Sarns^† impeller. In this study, the influence of the impeller configuration and types of pump on blood mixture was examined. Several types of impellers and a mixed flow pump were designed. The blood mixture decreased to 20.7% in a centrifugal pump, and to 16.9% in the mixed flow pump.