HeartMate III: pump design for a centrifugal LVAD with a magnetically levitated rotor.

A long-term, compact left ventricular assist device (LVAD), the HeartMate III, has been designed and fabricated, featuring a centrifugal pump with a magnetically levitated rotor. The pump has been optimized by in vitro testing to achieve a design point of 7 L/min against 135 mm Hg at high hydrodynamic efficiency (30%) and to be capable of up to 10 L/min under such a load. Furthermore, the pump has demonstrated no mechanical failures, low hemolysis (4-10 mg/dl plasma free Hb), and low thrombogenicity during six (40, 27, 59, 42, 27, and 49-day) in vivo bovine studies.