Research and Development of a Pediatric Mechanical Circulatory Support Device

在这项研究中，我们设计并测试了一种微型离心血泵，TinyPUmp，旨在为体重在3至15公斤之间的儿科患者提供机械循环支持。TinyPump的叶轮直径为30mm，带有6个直叶片，叶轮中心由一个流体动力轴承支撑，由外部驱动磁铁和叶轮内部从动磁铁之间的磁力耦合驱动。泵外径49mm，高42mm，包括电机驱动器，引液量5ml，进、出口1/4英寸尺寸。当TinyPump使用2.6、3.0和4.0 mm大小的儿科流出管连接到20 Kg仔猪的主动脉时，很容易证明其稳定的低流量控制低至0.1 L/min。在另一项研究中，当TinyPump被用于支持3.0-3.5 Kg新生仔猪的肺和心脏时，与临床使用的美敦力生物泵BP-50相比，它显示出血液动力学和炎症反应的改善。与美敦力生物泵BP-50的118毫升相比，TinyPump的启动体积非常小，只有5毫升，包括儿科氧合器（Terumo barney - rx）在内的总回路启动量仅为68毫升。因此，由于TinyPump的启动体积极小，仅为5ml，因此可以作为儿科患者心脏手术的潜在候选者，以减少输血引起的感染和炎症反应等并发症，并改善手术结果。

In this research, we have designed and tested a tiny centrifugal blood pump, TinyPUmp, intended for mechanical circulatory support of pediatric patients with the body weight ranging from 3 to 15 Kg. The TinyPump had the 30mm diameter impeller with 6 straight vanes supported by a hydrodynamic bearing at its center and driven by a magnetic coupling force between the external driver magnet and the follower magnet inside the impeller. The pump had the dimensions of 49mm external diameter, 42mm height including the motor driver, priming volume of 5 ml and 1/4 inch size inflow and outflow port. When the TinyPump was connected to the aorta of a 20 Kg piglet using the pediatric outflow cannlua of 2.6, 3.0 and 4.0 mm size, a stable low flow control down to 0.1 L/min was easily demonstrated. In another study, when the TinyPump was used to support both the lungs and heart of 3.0-3.5 Kg new born piglets, it showed improvement in hemodynamic and inflammatory responses incomparison to the clinical used Medtronic Bio-Pump BP-50. The TinyPump with extremely small priming volume of 5 ml, the total circuit prime including the pediatric oxygenator (Terumo Bany-RX) became only 68 ml in comparison to 118 ml of the Medtronic Bio-Pump BP-50. It was thus shown that the TinyPump because of its extremely small priming volume of 5 ml can be a potential candidate for open heart surgery in the pediatric patients to minimize complications such as infection and inflammatory responses due to blood transfusion and to improve the surgical outcomes.