Systems and Methods for Inertial Sensing for VAD Diagnostics and Closed Loop Control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022161016-A1
Application number	US-202217574905-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 13, 2022
Priority date	Jul 17, 2018
Publication date	May 26, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A blood circulation assist system includes a ventricular assist device (VAD) and a controller. The VAD is attachable to a heart of a patient to pump blood from a ventricle of the heart into a blood vessel of the patient. The VAD includes an impeller, a motor stator operable to rotate the impeller, and an accelerometer generating an accelerometer output indicative of accelerations of the VAD. The controller controls operation of the motor stator to control rotational speed of the impeller based on the accelerometer output.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of controlling operation of a ventricular assist device (VAD) implanted within a patient, the method comprising:
processing, by a controller, output of an accelerometer to measure accelerations of the VAD, wherein the VAD comprises the accelerometer; processing, by the controller, the accelerations of the VAD to measure at least one of:
an orientation of the patient,
a respiratory activity of the patient, and
a cardiac cycle timing of the patient;
controlling, by the controller, operation of the VAD based on at least one of the orientation of the patient, the respiratory activity, and the cardiac cycle timing.

2 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
processing the accelerations of the VAD to determine the orientation of the patient; and controlling the operation of the VAD based on the orientation of the patient.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the orientation of the patient is measured relative to vertical.

4 . The method of claim 3 , comprising comparing the orientation of the patient to reference orientations of the patient to determine a respective relative angle between the orientation of the patient and each of one or more reference orientations of the patient.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more reference orientations of the patient comprise standing upright and laying horizontal.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more reference orientations of the patient comprise standing upright, laying horizontal on the patient's right side, laying horizontal on the patient's left side, laying horizontal on the patient's stomach, and laying horizontal on the patient's back.

7 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
processing the accelerations of the VAD to measure the respiratory activity; and controlling the operation of the VAD based on the respiratory activity.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the respiratory activity of the patient comprises a respiration rate of the patient.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the respiratory activity of the patient comprises a diaphragm contraction amplitude of the patient.

10 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
processing the accelerations of the VAD to determine the cardiac cycle timing; and controlling the operation of the VAD based on the cardiac cycle timing.

11 . The method of claim 10 , comprising:
processing the accelerations of the VAD to monitor a motion of a ventricular heart wall of the patient; and processing the motion of the ventricular heart wall to determine the cardiac cycle timing.

12 . The method of claim 10 , comprising synchronizing a speed variation of the VAD with the cardiac cycle timing.

13 . The method of claim 10 , comprising synchronizing a variation of a flow rate of blood pumped by the VAD with the cardiac cycle timing.

14 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
processing the accelerations of the VAD to monitor a motion of a ventricular heart wall of the patient; and processing the motion of the ventricular heart wall to determine ventricle contractile strength and/or ventricle contractile efficiency to monitor health of the patient's heart.

15 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
processing the accelerations of the VAD to monitor a motion of a ventricular heart wall of the patient; and processing the motion of the ventricular heart wall to monitor for an occurrence of arrhythmia.

16 . The method of claim 1 , comprising monitoring the cardiac cycle timing for an occurrence of arrhythmia.

17 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
processing the accelerations of the VAD to detect and/or measure heart sounds of the patient; and processing the heart sounds to determine the cardiac cycle timing.

18 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
processing the accelerations of the VAD to detect and/or measure heart sounds of the patient; and processing the heart sounds to monitor for an occurrence of aortic insufficiency.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing of the accelerations of the VAD comprises isolating accelerations induced via operation of the VAD.

20 . The method of claim 19 , comprising processing the accelerations induced via operation of the VAD to monitor for one or more of excessive vibration of a rotor of the VAD, ingestion of an object by the VAD, and an occurrence of a suction event.

Assignees

• Tc1 Llc

Inventors

• Hansen John Freddy
• Hill John Donald
• Andriola Peter
• Harjes Daniel I
• Lee Eric
• Valchera Gionata
• Mercier Nichole
• Salltakaj Urim

Classifications

• A61M60/178 Primary

  drawing blood from a ventricle and returning the blood to the arterial system via a cannula external to the ventricle, e.g. left or right ventricular assist devices · CPC title

• A61M60/232

  Centrifugal pumps · CPC title

• A61M60/216

  including a rotating member acting on the blood, e.g. impeller · CPC title

• A61M60/422

  the force acting on the blood contacting member being electromagnetic, e.g. using canned motor pumps · CPC title

• A61M60/538

  Regulation using real-time blood pump operational parameter data, e.g. motor current · CPC title