Extracorporeal blood pump assembly and methods of assembling same

An extracorporeal blood pump assembly kit comprising:

• a blood pump including a pump housing defining an inner cavity that houses a rotor and a flow converter positioned downstream from the rotor to convert non-axial flow from the rotor to axial flow, the pump housing defining a pump housing inlet and a pump housing outlet, the pump housing outlet corresponding to an outlet of the inner cavity;
• a first extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) including a membrane housing defining a membrane housing inlet and a membrane housing outlet, wherein the membrane housing inlet of the first ECMO is removably connectable to the pump housing outlet such that the pump housing inlet is axially in-line with the membrane housing outlet, and wherein the pump housing outlet is axially in-line with the membrane housing inlet and connected to the membrane housing inlet at an interface, such that a blood flow path extends continuously and with a substantially continuous cross-sectional area from the inner cavity of the pump housing and across the interface into the membrane housing;
• and
• a second ECMO removably connectable to the one of the pump housing inlet and the pump housing outlet such that the first ECMO is interchangeable with the second ECMO, wherein the second ECMO has at least one of a size, a volume, and a gas exchange characteristic different from the first ECMO.

A method of assembling an extracorporeal blood pump assembly comprising:

• providing a blood pump including a pump housing defining an inner cavity that houses a rotor and a flow converter positioned downstream from the rotor to convert non-axial flow from the rotor to axial flow, wherein the pump housing defines a pump housing inlet and a pump housing outlet, the pump housing outlet corresponding to an outlet of the inner cavity;
• providing an extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) including a membrane housing and an oxygenator membrane disposed within the membrane housing, wherein the membrane housing defines a membrane housing inlet and a membrane housing outlet;
• and
• removably connecting the membrane housing to the pump housing outlet, wherein the blood pump housing and the membrane housing cooperatively define a blood flow path extending from i) an inlet of the blood pump assembly at the pump housing inlet to ii) an outlet of the blood pump assembly at the membrane housing outlet, wherein the pump housing inlet and the membrane housing outlet are axially in-line with one another and the pump housing outlet and the membrane housing inlet are axially in-line with another and connected at an interface, the blood flow path extending continuously and with a substantially constant cross-sectional area from the inner cavity of the pump housing and across the interface into the membrane housing.