Pressure Sensing Ventricular Assist Devices and Methods of Use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025344962-A1
Application number	US-202519276642-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 22, 2025
Priority date	Mar 29, 2017
Publication date	Nov 13, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Medical systems are disclosed that include an implantable blood pump and a pressure sensor. A medical system includes an implantable blood pump, a pulmonary artery blood pressure sensor, and a controller. The implantable blood pump includes a blood flow inlet configured to be coupled to a ventricle and a blood flow outlet configured to be coupled to an artery. The pulmonary artery blood pressure sensor is configured to output a pulmonary artery blood pressure signal indicative of pulmonary artery blood pressure of the user. The controller is operably coupled with the implantable blood pump and the pulmonary artery blood pressure sensor. The controller is configured to generate a pulmonary artery blood pressure waveform based on the pulmonary artery blood pressure signal and output the pulmonary artery blood pressure waveform.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A medical system comprising:
an implantable blood pump comprising a blood flow inlet and a blood flow outlet, wherein the blood flow inlet is configured to be coupled to a left ventricle of a user to receive a blood flow from the left ventricle, and wherein the blood flow outlet is configured to be coupled to an aorta of the user to transfer the blood flow to the aorta; a pulmonary artery blood pressure sensor configured to output a pulmonary artery blood pressure signal indicative of pulmonary artery blood pressure of the user; and a controller operably coupled with the implantable blood pump and the pulmonary artery blood pressure sensor, wherein the controller is configured to:
generate a pulmonary artery blood pressure waveform based on the pulmonary artery blood pressure signal; and
output the pulmonary artery blood pressure waveform.

2 . The medical system of claim 1 , further comprising an inlet blood pressure sensor configured to output an inlet blood pressure signal indicative of an inlet blood pressure within the blood flow inlet, and wherein the controller is further configured to:
generate a blood pressure waveform for the left ventricle based on the inlet blood pressure signal; and output the blood pressure waveform for the left ventricle.

3 . The medical system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to:
generate a differential blood pressure waveform across the implantable blood pump based on a rotor drive current signal configured to drive the implantable blood pump; and generate an aortic blood pressure waveform based on the inlet blood pressure signal and the differential blood pressure waveform.

4 . The medical system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a systolic arterial blood pressure based on the aortic blood pressure waveform.

5 . The medical system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a diastolic arterial blood pressure based on the aortic blood pressure waveform.

6 . The medical system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a mean arterial blood pressure based on the aortic blood pressure waveform.

7 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a heart rate based on the pulmonary artery blood pressure waveform.

8 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein:
the implantable blood pump comprises a rotor that is magnetically rotated to impel the blood flow; and the controller is configured to control a rotational speed of the rotor based on the pulmonary artery blood pressure waveform.

9 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the pulmonary artery blood pressure sensor comprises a MEMS based sensor.

10 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the pulmonary artery blood pressure sensor is wirelessly coupled with the controller.

11 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the pulmonary artery blood pressure sensor is hard wired to the controller.

12 . The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to estimate a left atrial blood pressure waveform or a left ventricular blood pressure waveform based on the pulmonary artery blood pressure waveform.

13 . The medical system of claim 1 , further comprising an outlet blood pressure sensor configured to output an outlet blood pressure signal indicative of an outlet blood pressure within the blood flow outlet, and wherein the controller is further configured to:
generate a differential blood pressure waveform across the implantable blood pump based on a rotor drive current signal configured to drive the implantable blood pump; generate a blood pressure waveform for the left ventricle based on the outlet blood pressure signal and the differential blood pressure waveform; and output the blood pressure waveform for the left ventricle and the pulmonary artery blood pressure waveform.

14 . The medical system of claim 13 , wherein the controller is configured to generate an aortic blood pressure waveform based on the outlet blood pressure signal.

15 . The medical system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a systolic arterial blood pressure based on the aortic blood pressure waveform.

16 . The medical system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a diastolic arterial blood pressure based on the aortic blood pressure waveform.

17 . The medical system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a mean arterial blood pressure based on the aortic blood pressure waveform.

18 . The medical system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a heart rate based on the aortic blood pressure waveform.

Assignees

• Tc1 Llc

Inventors

• Harjes Daniel I
• Frederick Kathryn B
• Lee Eric

Classifications

• A61M60/531

  using blood pressure data, e.g. from blood pressure sensors · CPC title

• A61M60/232

  Centrifugal pumps · CPC title

• A61M60/221

  the blood flow through the rotating member having both radial and axial components, e.g. mixed flow pumps · CPC title

• A61M60/178

  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

• A61M60/237

  the blood flow through the rotating member having mainly axial components, e.g. axial flow pumps · CPC title