A method for assessing the blood compatibility of ventricular assist systems using computational thermal fluid dynamics analysis

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Blood compatibility of a ventricular assist device (VAD) depends on the dynamics of blood flow. The focus in most previous studies was on blood flow in the VAD. However, the VAD inflow cannula influences the dynamics of blood flow and thus thrombus formation in the ventricle. In order to clarify the blood flow in the left ventricle (LV) supported with a continuous flow type VAD (CFVAD), the flow was analyzed by means of numerical and experimental fluid dynamics. Assessment based on average wall shear stress on the LV wall indicated that some of the combinations of the catheter tip shape and insertion depth improved the washout effect. The blood flow in the LV partially supported with a CFVAD was calculated. The change of flow pattern due to the LV ejection fraction, type of VAD and pump performance was confirmed. In addition, a simple method to assess the fragility of blood cells was proposed. The method is valuable to inspect the quality of the blood cells used for hemolysis tests.