VentrAssist hydrodynamically suspended, open, centrifugal blood pump.
A novel design is presented for an implantable centrifugal blood pump in which hydrodynamic forces acting on tapered edges of thick blades are used to suspend the impeller. The pump has no shaft, seals, or "spiders" and has clean flow lines with no stagnant zones. At 5 L/min and 100 mm Hg differential pressure, the measured hemolysis was in the range NIH 0.002-.005 g/100 L and the system efficiency was 19%.
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