Heart pump with passive purge system
AssigneeABIOMED, Inc.
InventorVincent Barry
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heart pump assembly includes an elongate catheter with a proximal portion and a distal portion, a rotor at the distal portion of the elongate catheter, a driveshaft, and a bearing. The rotor can include an impeller blade shaped to induce fluid flow in a first axial direction. The drive shaft may be coupled to or integrally formed with a proximal end of the rotor and can include a pump element formed in a surface of the drive shaft. The bearing can include a bore into which the drive shaft extends. The pump element is shaped so as to induce fluid flow through the bore in a second axial direction which can be the same or opposite to the first axial direction.
Claims20
A method for providing cardiac assistance, the method comprising:
- positioning a heart pump in a patient's vasculature, wherein the heart pump comprises:
- an elongate catheter having a proximal portion and a distal portion;
- a pump rotor disposed at the distal portion of the elongate catheter, the pump rotor having an impeller blade;
- a drive shaft coupled to the pump rotor;
- a bearing disposed at the distal portion of the elongate catheter and having a bore into which the drive shaft extends;
- and
- a pump element formed in the drive shaft and disposed at the distal portion of the elongate catheter;
- rotating the drive shaft to induce a blood flow in a first axial direction with the impeller blade while concurrently inducing a fluid flow through the bore and into the patient's vasculature in a second axial direction with the pump element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.