Prosthetic compliance devices
OwnerRobert K. Jarvikinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Implantable prosthetic devices and methods of use for increasing blood flow by increasing arterial compliance and reducing the magnitude of the pressure pulsations in the arterial system, and to increase perfusion of specific organs in order to overcome the deleterious effects of cardiovascular disease, are disclosed.
Claims21
A method for using an arterial compliance assist device having a deformable reservoir for storing blood and absorbing energy during systole and releasing all or a portion of said blood and energy during diastole without utilizing any external energy supply, comprising the steps of:
- surgically implanting the arterial compliance assist device in a patient's arterial system;
- expanding the arterial compliance assist device during systole to store a quantity of blood pumped by the heart and absorb at least a portion of the energy transferred to the arterial system by the systolic pressure of the heart;
- relaxing the arterial compliance assist device during the diastole to release said absorbed energy to assist the flow of blood through the arterial system;
- and
- repeating the expanding and relaxing steps.
An implantable vascular prosthesis, to improve the effectiveness of perfusion by the cardiovascular system, adapted to store hemodynamic and pressure energy received from arterial blood flow during systole and return said stored energy to the arterial system during diastole, comprising:
- a variable volume chamber adapted to receive and discharge blood;
- energy storage and actuation means adapted to apply a volume reducing compressive force to the chamber such that as blood is forced to enter the chamber by systolic arterial pressure, kinetic energy is stored as potential energy, and during
- diastole the stored potential energy actuates means to reduce the volume of the chamber thereby converting said potential energy to kinetic energy and expelling blood from the chamber into the arterial system;
- and
- means to anastomose said chamber to the arterial system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.