Haemolysis test of non-pulsatile and pulsatile impeller blood pumps

Non-pulsatile and pulsatile impeller blood pumps have been developed. The non-pulsatile pump was compared with the Shanghai and Sarns 7000 roller pumps for haemolysis. Similarly, the pulsatile pump was compared with a pneumatic diaphragm pump and the Polystan pulsatile pump. In each test, one impeller pump and the pump it was being compared with were connected to two identical circulatory systems with the same volume of fresh citrated porcine blood, delivered at the same pressure and flow for several hours. Every half hour the free haemoglobin was measured and the index of haemolysis (IH) calculated. The mean IH of the non-pulsatile impeller pump was about 18% of the Shanghai roller pump and 29% of the Sarns 7000 roller pump; the IH of the pulsatile impeller pump was 16% of the diaphragm pump and 8% of the Polystan pulsatile pump.