Heart failure assistance

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a solution for assisting cardiac circulation of a subject. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the new solution replaces the common practice of implementing a cannula of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to the left ventricle (LV) through a large opening made in the apex of the LV, which has some disadvantages such as requirement of sternotomy, making a hole in an already very weak left ventricle, requirement of cardiopulmonary bypass, etc. The solution of the present disclosure suggests introducing the inflow cannula, namely the cannula/tube that suctions blood from the heart, through an opening made in the left atrium appendage (LAA) and guiding it through the left atrium (LA) and the mitral valve (MV) into the LV to be positioned therein. The inflow cannula is designed to allow suction of blood along various portions of its length that are intended to be positioned within the heart, namely along portions that are positioned in the LV, LA and optionally the LAA. The blood that is suctioned by the inflow cannula flows into a mechanical circulatory support device to be pumped therefrom, via an outflow cannula and into the aorta, thereby allowing supply of oxygenated blood to the entire body. Optionally, the outflow cannula can be coupled to the descending aorta and not to the ascending aorta as commonly done in the cases of LVAD implementations. A second aspect of the present disclosure provides a new solution for overcoming right ventricle failure by withdrawing blood from a first portion of the pulmonary artery and streaming blood to a second portion of the pulmonary artery, the second portion is downstream the first portion, namely more proximal to the lungs. The two solutions may be carried out by a similar surgical procedure, such as left thoracotomy. If the two solutions of the present disclosure are used together, they form a total artificial heart solution.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.