Development of a low-stress blood pump

Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide. While blood pumps for mechanical circulatory support already treat heart muscle diseases successfully in the clinic, the pump flow traumatizes blood, which often leads to a disorder of the coagulation system and bleeding complications for the patient.

The goal of this research project is the development of a low-stress rotary blood pump. There is a correlation between the high shear stressing of the blood in the pump and the damage of a protein that is important for the coagulation process – the Von Willebrand factor. This is observed in a stenosis of the aortic valve where a pressure gradient of 30 mmHg already results in a reduction of the high-molecular-weight multimers of this clotting factor.

Effect of the pressure gradient in aortic stenosis on the Von Willebrand factor [Vincentelli 2003]. At high pressure gradient, the proportion of high molecular weight components of this factor decreases in blood.

Therefore, the project aims at generating the pressure build-up by the pump with the aid of new approaches in such a way that the pressure gradient remains below this threshold.

Contact persons

M.Sc. Bente Thamsen
Prof. Klaus Affeld

Literature

Vincentelli, A. ; Susen, S. ; Le Torneau, T. ; Six, I. ; Fabre, O. ; Juthier, F. ; Bauters, A. ; Decoene C. ; Goudemand, J. ; Prat, A. ; Jude, B.: Acquired von Willebrand Syndrome in Aortic Stenosis. In: The New England Journal of Medicine 349 (2003), no. 4, pp. 343–349

The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the KMU-innovativ program (promotional reference 01EZ120B).