A Variable Heart Pump Permitting Independent Control of Rate, Output, and Ejection Velocity

Abstract

This report describes a diaphragm pump which is driven by a variable speed motor and containing a driving can so shaped that the discharge characteristics of the pump are similar to those from the heart. This pump may be used to replace either the right or the left ventricle, leaving the lungs and opposite chamber of the heart to function normally. This device permits wider flexibility in physiologic studies, in that it is a useful method of separating the peripheral from the cardiac actions of agents that affect the cardiovascular system.