In-vitro assessment of centrifugal pumps for ventricular assist.

Currently two major types of centrifugal pumps are commercially available for ventricular assist: the Biomedicus-cone (Group I) and the Centrimed-impeller pump (now Sarns 3M) (Group II). To compare them for blood trauma and hemolysis, an in-vitro experiment was designed with a Stockert roller pump as a standard control (Group III). The in-vitro circuit was constructed consisting of a pump head, electromagnetic flow probe, polyvinyl chloride tubing and a reservoir, identical for all groups. Human ACD blood was used for priming and was circulated with a flow rate of 2 L/min for 24 h. Blood samples were taken at 0, 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h and zero control values were subtracted from the resultin…