Jarvik 2000 pump technology and miniaturization.

Blood-pump miniaturization has made amazing progress, reducing the pump diameter to one-tenth of the size of previous positive displacement pumps. In particular, axial-flow-pump technology allows tiny pumps running at high speeds to deliver from 2 to 10 L/min. A review of the background inventions of the Jarvik 2000 technology is presented, together with the reason that making pumps smaller than demanded by the particular application for which they are designed is counterproductive. Pump miniaturization is nearing its practical limit. The optimization of performance and patient outcomes should remain our primary design goal.