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Updated: Jun 19, 2026
09:15
In Vitro Thrombosis Test for Ventricular Assist Devices
Published on: March 21, 2025
VentrAssist left ventricular assist systems long-term in vitro reliability
Alex Stonehouse1, Martin Cook, John Woodard
1Ventracor Limited, 126 Greville Street, Chatswood, NSW, Australia.
Artificial Organs
|October 28, 2009
Summary
VentrAssist left ventricular assist systems (LVADs) underwent simulated cardiovascular testing. The VentrAssist LVAD blood pump demonstrated high in vitro reliability, exceeding 96% at 1 year with ongoing testing.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cardiovascular Technology
- Medical Device Reliability
Background:
- Left ventricular assist systems (LVADs) are crucial for managing heart failure.
- Long-term operational reliability is a key performance metric for LVADs.
- Standard testing involves simulated human cardiovascular systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the in vitro continuous operational reliability of the VentrAssist LVAD blood pump subsystem.
- To demonstrate reliability exceeding 80% with 60% confidence over a 1-year period.
- To gather extensive operational data through prolonged testing.
Main Methods:
- Utilized 13 VentrAssist (Ventracor Ltd) systems in mock loop simulations.
- Accumulated a total of 29.36 years of testing time across all pumps as of July 9, 2007.
- Monitored for failures and operational performance throughout the testing duration.
Main Results:
- Achieved an in vitro reliability of 96.7% for the VentrAssist LVAD blood pump at 1 year (60% confidence).
- No failures were recorded across the tested units during 4.5 years of cumulative testing.
- Testing is continuing to gather further long-term reliability data.
Conclusions:
- The VentrAssist LVAD blood pump exhibits high in vitro reliability suitable for long-term clinical use.
- The mock loop testing validates the robust performance of the pump subsystem.
- Continued testing will further solidify the long-term reliability assessment of the device.
