Systems for LVAD operation during communication losses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10500324-B2
Application number	US-201715651875-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2017
Priority date	Apr 15, 2014
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

Systems and devices for an adaptable blood pump are disclosed herein. The blood pump can be part of a mechanical circulatory support system that can include a system controller and the blood pump. The blood pump can include a rotary motor and a control unit that can communicate with the system controller. The blood pump can determine when communication with the system controller is established or has been lost. The blood pump can retrieve one or several back-up parameters when communication with the system controller has been lost, and can operate according to these back-up parameters.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mechanical circulatory support system comprising:
a controller configured to generate control signals comprising at least one performance parameter and to repeatingly transmit the control signals within consecutive time periods; and
an implantable blood pump communicatively coupled to the controller, the blood pump comprising:
a rotary motor; and
a control unit communicatively coupled with the rotary motor and configured to:
receive the control signals from the controller;
track the consecutive time periods; and
retrieve at least one back-up parameter if a control signal is not received from the controller within a predetermined time or number of the consecutive time periods to ensure operation of the implantable blood pump during a communication interruption or loss.

2. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to control at least one of the motion and position of the rotary motor.

3. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to control the speed, mode, or pulse parameter of the motor according to the received control signals or the at least one back-up parameter.

4. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 3 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:
determine a current pump performance;
compare the current pump performance to the at least one back-up parameter; and
generate control signals to achieve the pump performance specified by the at least one back-up parameter.

5. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined time comprises at least 5 seconds.

6. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the consecutive time periods have a length of time of less than 1 second.

7. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined number comprises at least five consecutive time periods.

8. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one performance parameter comprises at least one of a pump speed, a pump operational mode, and a pulse parameter.

9. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 8 , wherein the pulse parameter comprises one of a pulse duration, a systolic pressure, a diastolic pressure, and a pulse pressure.

10. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 8 , wherein the pump operational mode comprises at least one of continuous speed, pulsatile pumping, or non-pulsatile mode.

11. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one back-up parameter comprises at least one of a pump speed, pump operational mode, and a pulse parameter.

12. The mechanical circulatory system of claim 11 , wherein the control unit is configured to generate the at least one back-up parameter from the control signal received from the controller.

13. The mechanical circulatory system of claim 12 , wherein the control unit comprises memory which stores the at least one back up parameter.

14. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to return to operation based on control signals received from the external controller when communication is re-established.

15. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises an external or implantable controller configured to wirelessly transmit the control signals.

16. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises an external or implantable controller having a driveline coupled to the implantable pump to transmit the control signals.

17. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the mode of the rotary motor according to the received control signals or the at least one back-up parameter.

18. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the pulse parameter of the rotary motor according to the received control signals or the at least one back-up parameter.

19. An implantable blood pump comprising:
a rotary motor;
a control unit communicatively coupled with the rotary motor and configured to:
repeatingly receive control signals comprising at least one performance parameter;
track receipt of the control signals over a time period; and
retrieve at least one back-up parameter if a control signal is not received within a predetermined time period to ensure operation of the implantable blood pump during a communication interruption or loss.

20. The implantable blood pump of claim 19 , wherein the control unit is configured to provide a status update in response to a received control signal.

21. The implantable blood pump of claim 19 , wherein the at least one back-up parameter is retrieved if a control signal is not received within the predetermined time period of 5 seconds.

22. The implantable blood pump of claim 19 , wherein the at least one performance parameter comprises at least one of a pump speed, a pump operational mode, and a pulse parameter.

23. The implantable blood pump of claim 22 , wherein the pulse parameter comprises one of a pulse duration, a systolic pressure, a diastolic pressure, and a pulse pressure.

24. The implantable blood pump of claim 22 , wherein the pump operational mode comprises at least one of continuous speed, pulsatile pumping, non-pulsatile mode.

25. The implantable blood pump of claim 22 , wherein the at least one back-up parameter comprises at least one of a pump speed, a pump operational mode, and a pulse parameter.

26. The implantable blood pump of claim 22 , wherein the control unit is configured to return to operation based on control signals received from the controller when a new control signal is receive.

27. The implantable blood pump of claim 22 , wherein the rotary motor is located within a first implantable housing and the control unit is located in a second implantable housing.

Assignees

• Tc1 Llc

Inventors

• Schade Christian
• Siebenhaar Andre

Classifications

• A61M2205/3334

  Measuring or controlling the flow rate · CPC title

• A61M2205/16

  with back-up system in case of failure · CPC title

• A61M1/1036

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61M1/1015

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61M1/101

  Human Necessities · mapped topic