Apparatus is provided that is configured to be deployed in a lumen of a blood vessel of a subject. The apparatus includes a pump portion, including an anchor configured to engage a wall of the blood vessel in order to maintain the apparatus in place within the blood vessel, and a reciprocating valve coupled to the anchor and including a set of one or more leaflets. A valve driver is configured to drive the reciprocating valve in a reciprocating pattern between (i) a first state in which the leaflets are in an open configuration allowing blood flow through the reciprocating valve, and (ii) a second state in which the leaflets are in a closed configuration inhibiting blood flow through the reciprocating valve. Other embodiments are also described.

An implantable device adapted for assisting the flow of blood from a left atrium to a descending aorta of an in-vivo heart is provided. The implantable device includes an inlet cannula adapted to be connected to the left atrium and an outlet cannula adapted to be connected to the descending aorta. In one embodiment, the inlet and outlet cannula is in fluid communication with a blood pressure pump. The implantable device further includes a first accelerometer mounted on a housing of the blood pressure pump, wherein the first accelerometer is adapted for measuring mitral valve motion. The implantable device also includes an implanted controller in electrical communication with at least one implanted ECG sensor adapted for detecting ECG signals, wherein the at least one implanted ECG sensor is positioned between the blood pressure pump and the implanted controller and the implanted controller also includes a processor adapted to analyse detected ECG signals and the mitral valve motion. In one embodiment, the processor dynamically adjusts the target blood pressure pump speed based on ECG signals and mitral valve motion such that the blood flows from left atrium to both left ventricle and descending aorta.

An implantable device adapted for assisting the flow of blood from a left atrium to a descending aorta of an in-vivo heart is provided. The implantable device includes an inlet cannula adapted to be connected to the left atrium and an outlet cannula adapted to be connected to the descending aorta. In one embodiment, the inlet and outlet cannula is in fluid communication with a blood pressure pump. The implantable device further includes a first accelerometer mounted on a housing of the blood pressure pump, wherein the first accelerometer is adapted for measuring mitral valve motion. The implantable device also includes an implanted controller in electrical communication with at least one implanted ECG sensor adapted for detecting ECG signals, wherein the at least one implanted ECG sensor is positioned between the blood pressure pump and the implanted controller and the implanted controller also includes a processor adapted to analyse detected ECG signals and the mitral valve motion. In one embodiment, the processor dynamically adjusts the target blood pressure pump speed based on ECG signals and mitral valve motion such that the blood flows from left atrium to both left ventricle and descending aorta.

A minimally invasive pre-cardiogenic heart assist device has been developed. A method of increasing myocardial blood flow using a Subclavian Diastolic Augmentation Device (SDAD) includes grafting a subclavian vein to a first synthetic chamber, the first synthetic chamber located inside of a body of the patient; grafting a subclavian artery to a second synthetic chamber, the second synthetic chamber located inside of the body of the patient; and pumping blood from the first synthetic chamber to the second synthetic chamber with a pump located inside of the body of the patient.

The present technology provides a blood pump device and associated systems and methods of use thereof to assist blood circulation in a patient. The blood pump device includes a flexible member disposed within a housing. Movement of the flexible member in the housing varies the volume of chambers within the housing and effectuates pumping of blood to and from a vessel in fluid connection with a chamber of the blood pump device.

A ventricle assist device comprising a device body with a housing having an inlet and an outlet. A centrifugal pump is disposed in a portion of the housing. The inlet is adapted to allow a flow of blood into the device body housing and an outlet adapted to allow the flow of blood from the device body housing. The flow of blood from the device body housing is primarily directed into the left ventricle, and the inlet and the outlet are positionable in a ventricle.

A control device (100) for controlling the rotational speed (n.sub.VAD(t)) of a non-pulsatile ventricular assist device, VAD, (50) uses an event-based within-a-beat control strategy, wherein the control device is configured to alter the rotational speed of the VAD within the cardiac cycle of the assisted heart and to synchronize the alteration of the rotational speed with the heartbeat by at least one sequence of trigger signals (?(t)) that is related to at least one predetermined characteristic event in the cardiac cycle. Further, a VAD (50) for assistance of a heart comprises the control device (100) for controlling the VAD, wherein the VAD is preferably a non-pulsatile rotational, for example catheter-based, blood pump.

A ventricular assist device incorporating a rotary pump, such as a rotary impeller pump is implantable in fluid communication with a ventricle and an artery to assist blood flow from the ventricle to the artery. The device includes a pump drive circuit supplying power to the pump, one or more sensors for sensing one or more electrophysiological signals such as electrogram signals in and a signal processing circuit connected to the sensors and the pump drive circuit. The signal processing circuit is operative to detect the sensor signals and control power supplied to the pump from the pump drive circuit so that the pump runs in a pulsatile mode, with a varying speed synchronized with the cardiac cycle. When an arrhythmia is detected, the pump drive circuit may also run the pump in an atrial arrhythmia mode or a ventricular arrhythmia mode different from the normal pulsatile mode.

Circulatory assistance device for a heart of a living being, including a cuff for periodically applying pressure to the heart by at least one dielectric elastomer membrane which is controllable by a control device in synchronization with a cardiac beat in order to convey blood in pulses, wherein the cuff is designed to be pulled over the outside of the heart and for this purpose has an inner shape that is adapted to the outer contour of the heart at least in the region outside the ventricles, wherein the cuff is composed of an outer contraction layer including the dielectric elastomer membrane and an inner padding layer, and the padding layer is filled with an incompressible liquid and has at least one outlet valve, which is closed in a normal state and opened in an emergency state.

In a method for managing a cardiac pump intended to assist the heart of a patient, the cardiac pump sends pressurized blood at a flow rate proportional to the speed of rotation Vrpm of the pump through the aortic valve of the heart. The steps, during a same ventricular systole, include: detecting mitral valve closure, rotational speed Vrpm of the pump being strictly less than a maximum value Vrpm max, increasing Vrpm of the pump such that, at time t2, after the time t corresponding to the closing of the mitral valve, the speed of rotation of the pump is equal, or substantially equal, to the maximum value Vrpm max of the speed of rotation, and keeping the speed of rotation Vrpm of the pump at this maximum value Vrpm max for at least a portion of the time period T during which the aortic valve is open.