SBIR-STTR Award

Circulatory assist devices are needed for immediate temporary treatment of acute myocardial infarction and for some posteardiotomy patients. Implanted circulatory assist devices also are being developed for longer term help to ambulatory patients with chronic heart failure. Pneumatic and electromagnetically actuated pulsatile assist devices have been investigated, and in recent years there has been development of continuous flow rotary blood pumps, smaller and simpler than pulsatile devices, which do not require valves. Rotary pumps, however, need sliding bearings and seals or magnetic transmissions, which limit their usefulness. There is still a controversy, also, concerning the adequacy of continuous flow assistance, and whether there is a biological need for pulsatile blood flow.The research program seeks to provide improved circulatory assist devices as well as extracorporeal blood pumps of both types based on a vibratory orbiting centrifugal pumping principle. A small implantable VAD will be designed with potential for optional continuous or pulsatile pumping. The VAD will have no valves, rotating bearings, or seals. An analytical and experimental program to provide a design for an optimized vibratory orbiting blood pump is presented. A substantial market is anticipated.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:Improved blood pumps for oxygenators, improved extracorporeal circulatory assist devices, improved implantable ventricular assist devices for ambulatory patients, and clean pumps for pharmaceuticals and biological and sanitary fields.National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Circulatory assist devices are needed for immediate temporary treatment of acute myocardial infarction and postcardiotomy patients. They also are being developed for longer term help to ambulatory patients with chronic heart failure. Extracorporeal blood pumps are also used during cardiac surgery. Pneumatic and electromagnetically-actuated pulsatile assist devices have been investigated, and in recent years there has been development of continuous flow rotary blood pumps. Rotary blood pumps which do not require valves, but do need sliding bearings and seals, which limit their usefulness. There is still a controversy concerning the adequacy of continuous flow assistance and a biological need for pulsatile blood flow. The aim of the Phase I effort was to determine the feasibility of a vibratory orbiting blood pump (VOBP); the orbiting circulator is spring mounted and actuated by an external magnetic drive, eliminating any bearings or seals in the blood path. An experimental pump has been built which provides outputs in the same range as existing mutating blood pumps. A preliminary design of a practical VOBP has been generated, a major feature of which is the inclusion of a bearingless, sealless, low cost, disposable pumping element. A Phase 11 program for the development of tested prototypes is presented.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research: Potential commercial applications exist in improved extracorporeal circulatory assist devices, improved blood pumps for oxygenators, clean pumps for pharmaceuticals and biological and sanitary fluids.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)