Patent Application
20120271096
The invention is in the medical field, and I particular in the field of blood pumps such as those used for heart assist or dialysis.
Many medical situations, such as heart failure, require assisting the heart or taking over completely the blood pumping function. Because of sterility concerns such devices tend to be single-use, or disposable. Current devices have two major shortcomings: high cost of the disposable part and a requirement for a large insertion hole in the artery or vein. Such pumps are typically inserted via the femoral artery for heart assist use, and via the arm or neck for dialysis use. Typical puncture size is 24 Fr (about 8 mm) for a 5 l/min pump, which is equivalent to the normal cardiac output. A 24 Fr puncture typically requires a cut-down and some surgical closure method, such as suturing, when the catheter is removed. Smaller punctures, such as 12 Fr or 14 Fr can be done without a cut-down or surgical closure. It is desired to minimize the closure size for a given pumping volume as well as have a low cost disposable part. It is also desired to have a system with a minimal blood volume in it, as the system is started by filling with a saline solution which dilutes the patient's blood. A smaller volume typically also needs a smaller surface area, this less chances of clotting. It is also desired to minimize blood damage, mainly hemolysis, be limiting the pressure, vacuum and shear rates. It is also desired to have a naturally fail-safe design, not relying on alarms, in order not to exceed the safe limits. The present invention meets all these requirements. Another requirement is not to cut off blood supply to the leg when femoral artery insertion is used. Traditionally the catheter used for blood delivery had to be hooked up to a blood pump. Since both the catheter and pump in the invention are made of flexible tubing, they can be combined into a single unit. All these requirements can be met by the disclosed blood pump and catheter.
A blood pump for cardiac assist is made up from a catheter having a collapsible outer delivery tube and an inner suction tube that can be collapsible as well. The diameter of the tubing is reduced at the entry point to the body an a hole in the side of the delivery tube provides blood flow to the organs downstream from the catheter insertion point. The catheter is connected to an elastic tubing loop which forms a peristaltic pump when stretched over rotating arms equipped with rollers.
The preferred embodiment combines two previous devices, a blood pump and a delivery catheter, into a single unit. A suitable blood pump is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,323 and a collapsible catheter disclosed by US patent application 20090259089 having the same inventors as the current invention. Both documents are hereby incorporated by reference. The pump disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,323 is different from conventional roller, or “peristaltic”, pumps by the fact that the flexible tubing is not sealed by pressing it with a roller onto a hard surface. Instead, it is sealed by stretching the tubing over a roller. This prevents local high pressure spots that can crush red blood cells. A regular roller pump can be used as well, by pressing the tubing against a soft surface, such as silicone rubber, by the rotating rollers. The catheter disclosed by patent application 20090259089 is different from current catheters as both the pressure side and the vacuum side are made from flexible thin walled tubing and therefore fully collapsible to a small diameter. Being collapsible allows inserting the catheter through a small puncture. In an alternate embodiment only the pressure side is made collapsible. Once inserted the catheter is expanded by being pressurized. The whole length of the catheter is expanded, to offer low resistance to blood flow, except for a very short section, about 1-5 cm long, at the point on entering the artery or vein. Since the unexpanded section is very short it does not significantly lower blood flow. A novel structure uses a set of pressurized outside tubes (the delivery side) to strengthen the inner suction tube (the suction side). The pump and catheter can be connected into a single disposable part, thus eliminating any connections between the pump and catheter. Any hook-up of blood lines has to be done with extreme care because of the fear of air embolism which can be fatal. A single unit also has a smaller volume, reducing blood dilution by the saline solution used to fill the device before use.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The inside of the tubing and catheter can be treated to minimize clotting by an anti-coagulation coating such as heparin or texturing the surface. A super-hydrophobic or super-hydrophilic coating may be used as well as an anti-clotting coating. When the suction tube 22 is made non-collapsible it should be reinforced by a metal wire embedded in a thin plastic wall. Good results were achieved with spring tempered stainless steel wires about 0.1 mm in diameter embedded in a 0.2 mm thick wall. The art of building catheters with wire reinforcement is well known and such tubes are commercially available.
Blood is more tolerant to pressure than to vacuum so the design optimizes the flow for a given size of entry point 16 by using a lower area for the pressure side than the suction side. Typical pressures used are 600-2000 mmHg with typical suction vacuum of 300-600 mmHg. In order to avoid high roller pressure in the roller pump, which could damage red blood cells, the high pressure can be built up by using multiple loops of tube 2 wound around the same set of rollers 4. By the way of example, if 1200 mmHg pressure and 300 mmHg suction are needed and tube 2 is looped around rollers 4 three times, the pressure differential per loop is only 400 mmHg and suction differential only 100 mmHg. Such low differentials allow to use the pump with tube not fully occluded at contact points with rollers, as leakage flow goes down with decreased pressure drop. This further reduces blood damage. In general the maximum pressure possible, per stage, is determined by the loop tension while the maximum suction possible is determined by the wall thickness of loop 2, since the elastic force of the tube wall allows it to stay round, resisting the suction force trying to collapse the tube. The pumping volume is determined by pump rotational speed, loop diameter and hose inside diameter.
Alternate ways of peristaltic action in loop 2 can be used as well, such as sequentially expanding air or gas bags. The advantage of using air bags instead of pump rollers is that the pump can be operated from a device similar to current balloon pumps.
The figures and descriptions show a pump inserted in the left ventricle or “left side assist”. The same design can also be used in the right ventricle as a “right side assist”. The required change is making delivery tube 14 extend beyond suction tube 22. The tip of tube 22 is connected to the outside of the longer tube 14 via an opening in the side of tube 14.
The section of the catheter inside the femoral artery (or other major arteries) has to be designed to maximize flow while minimizing occlusion of the artery, which could cause ischemia in the organs downstream from the catheter. In one embodiment the section of the catheter inside the artery after entry point 16 is tapered to match the natural tapering of the artery, typically expanding from 5 m-6 mm near entry point to 8 mm about 250 mm further along catheter. In the preferred embodiment the catheter is larger an is allowed to nearly or fully block the femoral artery, as seen in
The catheter as shown in
By the way of example a catheter and pump combination according to the invention was built and tested. The inner tune was non-collapsible and reinforced by a spring made of 0.1 mm spring tempered stainless steel wire with both inside and outside walls being smooth. Total catheter length from entry point 16 to tip 19 was 70 cm. Delivery point 22 was 50 cm from entry point 16. The expandable sleeve delivery tube 14 was tapered from 5.6 mm at point 16 to 8 mm at 250 mm inside the body, after that expanded to 12 mm. All dimensions are when inflated. Delivery tube was made of 0.05 mm polyethylene. The hole 23 was about 1 mm. The suction tube had an ID of about 4.7 mm, with a narrowing to 4 mm for a length of 30 mm at the entry point 16. A cross shaped plastic divider, 30 mm long, was placed in the inner tube at the narrowed section to limit Reynold's number to below 3000. The delivery tube had an inside diameter of about 5.4 mm and an outside diameter of 5.6 mm at entry point 16. Tubing was shaped by stretching a heated tube. The catheter was tested with a 44% glycerin/56% water mixture, to simulate the viscosity of blood. A flow of 5 liter/minute was achieved at a pressure of 1000 mmHg and a suction vacuum of 400 mmHg. In the section outside the patient's body, between connector 15 and entry point 16, the tubing is not restricted in size. The pump loop 2 comprised of two turns of soft silicone rubber hose with an ID of 9.5 mm and an OD of 16 mm (McMaster-Carr part number 51135K37 purchased from www.mcmaster.com). While the examples in this disclosure are mainly for ventricular assist, the same device can be used as a high flow dialysis catheter or any other application requiring pumping fluids in and out of the body via a small puncture. The design is easily scalable over a wide range of sizes and flow rates.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61517732 | Apr 2011 | US |
