A novel left ventricular assist device with impeller pump and brushless motor compacted in one unit

The impeller pump we developed has assisted the circulation of calves for t wo months, but further improvements to solve the problems of bearing wear a nd thrombosis along the hearing are desirable. Thus we have designed a new left ventricular assist device (LVAD) with impeller pump and brushless moto r compacted in one unit, for which a ceramic bearing and a purge system thr ough the bearing have been devised. The first experiments indicate that thi s new device could prospectively work for more than one year.