Abstract
Ventricular assist device has been increasingly used in the treatment of end-stage heart failure, with a high incidence of hemolysis in clinical use, which is a serious problem to be solved. In this study, a complete set of continuous-flow ventricular assist device in vitro test platform for hydraulic performance and hemolysis was established. A self-developed continuous-flow ventricular assist device was employed, with the impeller being chamfered or unchamfered, respectively, to undergo the hydraulic performance and in vitro hemolysis tests, using computational fluid dynamics and a rheometer to investigate the influences of the shear stress on hemolysis. Computational fluid dynamics results showed that the shear stress of continuous-flow ventricular assist device with chamfered impeller was significantly decreased; as a result, the normalized index of hemolysis of the chamfered was reduced, demonstrating that lowering the shear stress of the impeller could significantly reduce hemolysis. Moreover, it was further confirmed by a fixed shear stress test. When the shear stress was greater than 100 Pa, the hemolytic effects were increased significantly. In standard operating conditions, lowering the impeller’s shear stress to less than 100 Pa could effectively reduce the hemolytic effects of ventricular assist device.
Highlights
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a common clinical manifestation of the vast majority of heart diseases and myocardial dysfunctions
In in vitro hemolysis tests, according to the ASTM F1841, we controlled the rotation speed and output flow rate strictly, the head of both chamfered and unchamfered pumps fluctuate in a small range at 100 6 3 mmHg, and the H-Q difference induced by chamfering processing was in the fluctuation range
Through hydraulic performance test and in vitro hemolysis study of ventricular assist device (VAD), we found that the test platform had good measuring stability, providing a standardized test environment for detecting and evaluating the hydraulic and hemolysis property of the continuous-flow ventricular assist device (CF-VAD)
Summary
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a common clinical manifestation of the vast majority of heart diseases and myocardial dysfunctions. Electrophysiology, and conventional surgical treatments show poor efficacy for the end-stage heart failure, heart transplantation is currently recognized as the most effective treatment for the end-stage heart failure.[3] due to the shortage of donated hearts, the implementation of heart transplantation is severely limited, and the world’s annual number of heart transplants remains at around 4000.4 In this case, a large number of patients died of refractory heart failure because they failed to receive timely heart transplant As a result, this greatly contributes to the development. Advances in Mechanical Engineering of ventricular assist device (VAD), which replaces heart transplantation in the treatment of intractable heart failure, as a transitional support during the waiting period for transplant, or a long-term or even lifelong support
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