Apparatus and methods are described including a tube configured to traverse a subject's aortic valve. A frame is disposed within a portion of the tube, and an impeller is disposed inside the tube such that, when the impeller and the tube are deployed inside the subject, a gap between an outer edge of the impeller and an inner surface of the tube is less than 1 mm. The impeller rotates such as to pump blood from the left ventricle to the aorta, and is stabilized with respect to the tube, such that, during rotation of the impeller, the gap between the outer edge of the impeller and the inner surface of the tube is maintained. The impeller includes at least one impeller blade defined by a helical elongate element, and a film of material supported by the helical elongate element. Other applications are also described.

A pump is provided with a housing and with an upstream inlet and a downstream outlet and a fluid channel with a channel axis, said fluid channel being arranged between the inlet and outlet. A rotor which can be brought into rotation by way of a motor is arranged within the fluid channel. Furthermore, a sensor arrangement is provided which can detect an inclination of the rotation axis of the rotor.

A rotordynamic pump for delivering continuous flow of fluids, such as blood, is provided. In one embodiment, the pump includes a stator housing having an inlet and an outlet. A rotor hub is disposed within the stator housing having a first, mixed-stage impeller and a second, axial-flow stage impellers. One or more stator vanes and extend radially inwardly from the stator housing. In one particular embodiment, the second stage impeller is disposed nearer to the outlet than to the inlet. The stator vanes may include a first set of stator vanes disposed between the first and second stage impellers, and a second set of stator vanes positioned between the second stage impellers and the outlet.

An axial-flow blood pump includes a housing having an inlet and an outlet opposite therefrom. An impeller located within the housing is suspended during operation by magnetic forces between magnets or magnetized regions of the impeller and a motor stator surrounding the housing, and hydrodynamic thrust forces generated by a flow of blood between the housing and a plurality of hydrodynamic thrust bearing surfaces located on the impeller. A volute may be in fluid-tight connection with the outlet of the housing for receiving blood in the axial direction and directing blood in a direction normal to the axial direction. The volute has a flow-improving member extending axially from the volute and into the housing in a coaxial direction of the housing.

A blood pump has a hollow body in which an impeller with a spiral blading produces an axial propulsion of blood along the impeller, as well as an at least partly actively stabilized magnetic bearing device and a hydrodynamic bearing device for the impeller. The impeller may be set into a rotation about a rotation axis of the impeller with a motor stator located outside the hollow body. The hollow body has an inlet for the flow of blood into the hollow body in an inflow direction which is essentially parallel to the rotation axis, and an outlet for the outflow of the blood out of the hollow body in an outflow direction which is offset to the rotation axis of the impeller to produce a non-zero outflow angle (α) between the inflow direction and the outflow direction. A total artificial heart can be formed from two such blood pumps.

An axial flow blood pump having a rotor rotatably mounted in a housing. The rotor includes at least two rotor blades having different configurations.

A non-occluding intravascular pump comprises a shroud providing an inlet for incoming blood flow and an outlet for outgoing blood flow, wherein the shroud is a cylindrical housing; an impeller positioned within shroud, wherein a central axis of the shroud and impeller are shared; a motor coupled to the impeller, wherein the motor rotates the impeller to causes blood to be drawn through the inlet and output to the outlet, and the motor is centrally disposed and shares the central axis with the shroud and the impeller; and a plurality of pillars coupling the motor to the shroud, wherein the pillars secure the shroud in close proximity to the impeller. Various design features of the pump may be optimized to reduce hemolysis, such as, but not limited to, inlet length, impeller design, pillar angle, and outlet design.

An impeller includes a hub and a blade supported by the hub. The impeller has a stored configuration in which the blade is compressed so that its distal end moves towards the hub, and a deployed configuration in which the blade extends away from the hub. The impeller may be part of a pump for pumping fluids, such as blood, and may include a cannula having a proximal portion with a fixed diameter, and a distal portion with an expandable diameter. The impeller may reside in the expandable portion of the cannula. The cannula may have a compressed diameter which allows it to be inserted percutaneously into a patient. Once at a desired location, the expandable portion of the cannula may be expanded and the impeller expanded to the deployed configuration. A flexible drive shaft may extend through the cannula for rotationally driving the impeller within the patient.

A centrifugal blood pump without a mechanical bearing comprises a pump casing (1), an impeller (9) arranged in the pump casing rotatably about the central axis and freely movable axially and radially within a limited clearance. The impeller has per-manent magnets or permanently magnetized magnetic regions (N/S) which cooperate with an electromagnetic drive to set the impeller rotating. A circular wall (12) or circularly arranged wall sections are provided within the pump casing, their inner surfaces defining a radial clearance together with the outer circumference of the impeller to form a hydrodynamic radial bearing for the impeller.

A non-occluding intravascular pump comprises a shroud providing an inlet for incoming blood flow and an outlet for outgoing blood flow, wherein the shroud is a cylindrical housing; an impeller positioned within shroud, wherein a central axis of the shroud and impeller are shared; a motor coupled to the impeller, wherein the motor rotates the impeller to causes blood to be drawn through the inlet and output to the outlet, and the motor is centrally disposed and shares the central axis with the shroud and the impeller; and a plurality of pillars coupling the motor to the shroud, wherein the pillars secure the shroud in close proximity to the impeller. Various design features of the pump may be optimized to reduce hemolysis, such as, but not limited to, inlet length, impeller design, pillar angle, and outlet design.