Systems, methods, and devices for securing a driveline to a portion of skin are disclosed herein. The driveline can connect an external controller to an implantable blood pump. The skin anchor can include a driveline capture portion. The driveline capture portion can receive the driveline and fix a position of the driveline with respect to the driveline capture portion. The driveline capture portion includes: a driveline receiver that can receive the driveline; and a driveline anchor that can engage the driveline to fix the position of the driveline with respect to the driveline receiver. The skin anchor can include a force distribution portion. The force distribution portion can engage a portion of skin and fix a position of the portion of skin with respect to the force distribution portion.

The application relates to an external drive unit (7) for an implantable heart assist pump. The proposed drive unit (7) comprises a motor (35) for driving the heart assist pump, wherein the motor (35) is connectable to the heart assist pump via a transcutaneous drive shaft (3). The drive unit (7) further comprises a heat spreader (19) comprising a contact surface configured to contact and/or directly contact and/or lie flat against a skin of a patient. The contact surface is connected or connectable with the motor (35) in a thermally-conductive manner to transfer heat generated by the motor (35) to tissue of the patient.

The application relates to an external drive unit (7) for an implantable heart assist pump (4). The proposed drive unit (7) comprises a motor housing (51), a transcutaneous drive shaft (3) and a motor (35) for driving the heart assist pump (4). The motor (35) is connectable to the heart assist pump (4) via the drive shaft (3), and the motor (35) is arranged inside the motor housing (51). The drive unit (7) further comprises a catheter (2) surrounding the drive shaft (3) and a purge line (53) for injecting a purge medium into a lumen of the catheter (2) or into a space (41) between the catheter (2) and the drive shaft (3). The purge line (53) is in thermal contact (54, 55) with an outer surface of the motor housing (51) and/or with an outer surface of a proximal section (52) of the catheter (2). Due to the thermal contact (54, 55) heat may be transferred from the outer surface of the catheter (2) in the proximal section (52) and/or from the outer surface of the motor housing (51) to the purge medium.

The present invention generally relates to heart treatment systems. In some aspects, methods and systems are provided for facilitating communication between implanted devices. For example, an implantable cardiac rhythm management device may be configured to communicate with an implantable blood pump. The implantable cardiac rhythm management device may deliver heart stimulation rate information in addition to information associated with any detected abnormalities in heart function. In response, the pump may be configured to adjust pumping by the pump to better accommodate a patient's particular needs.

Systems, assemblies, and related modules for connecting components of medical devices employ connector cables with electrical conductors and optical fibers. A connector assembly for coupling a battery module with a medical system including an implanted or worn medical device includes an input connector and an output connector. The input connector includes metal contact plates, has no moving parts, and is sealed to prevent water or dust ingression into the housing. The output connector includes metal pins to electrically couple to the metal plates of the input connector, a connector cable including electrical conductors coupled to the metal pins configured to transmit electrical power and an optical fiber configured to transmit data, and a latching mechanism disposed at an end of the output connector configured to physically attach the output connector to the housing. The cable body has a substantially flat cross-section.

Systems and related methods for supplying power to a medical device employ serially-connectable portable batteries. A method of supplying electrical power to a medical device includes discharging a first external battery to output electrical power to a second external battery. Distribution of the electrical power received by the second external battery is controlled to simultaneously charge the second external battery and output electrical power from the second external battery to supply electrical power to the medical device.

An apparatus for moving a fluid to or from a cavity on a body of a human or mammal patient. The apparatus comprising a fluid movement device, an energy source adapted to supply energy to said fluid movement device and at least one connecting tube having a tube end. The at least one connecting tube being connected to the fluid movement device. The apparatus further comprises, a flexible patch. The fluid movement device and the at least one connecting tube forms a fluid moving arrangement adapted to be implanted inside the body of the human or mammal patient. The fluid movement device is adapted to move fluid from a treatment area via the at least one connecting tube to a delivery area. The flexible patch comprises a net structure adapted to be overgrown by human fibrotic tissue hen implanted in the patient

An apparatus includes an expandable member, a blood pump, and a set of struts. The expandable member is configured to transition from a collapsed configuration to an expanded configuration. The expandable member includes a set of flexible segments that form a tubular wall defining an interior volume. The flexible segments contact an inner surface of a blood vessel when the expandable member is in the expanded position. The expandable member includes a set of attachment portions. Each of the struts has a first end portion coupled to a housing of the blood pump. Each of the struts has a second end portion configured to be removably coupled to a corresponding attachment portion such that the blood pump can be removably coupled to the expandable member with at least a portion of the housing disposed within the interior volume of the expandable member.

Systems and methods for controlling an implantable pump are provided. For example, the exemplary controller for controlling the implantable pump may only rely on the actuator's current measurement. The controller is robust to pressure and flow changes inside the pump head, and allows fast change of pump's operation point. For example, the controller includes, a two stage, nonlinear position observer module based on a reduced order model of the electromagnetic actuator. The controller includes an algorithm that estimates the position of the moving component of the implantable pump based on the actuator's current measurement and adjusts operation of the pump accordingly. Alternatively, the controller may rely on position measurements and/or velocity estimations.

An apparatus for starting operation of a motor of an implantable blood pump including a memory storing one or more default parameters for at least one of controlling and monitoring the startup operation. A processor operatively coupled to the motor is included, the processor is configured to: commence the startup operation based on the one or more default parameters; detect an error during the startup operation; adjust at least one of the one or more default parameters in response to the detected error; store the at least one adjusted parameter in the memory; and commence subsequent startup operations based at least in part on the at least one adjusted parameter.