Novel method to determine instantaneous blood volume in pulsatile blood pump using electrical impedance

A novel real-time volumetric method was developed for a pulsatile pump. This method, the impedance method, used electrical impedance change in the blood chamber according to volume change while pumping. This method was evaluated with two kinds of air-driven diaphragm pumps. During in vitro tests, the impedance method indicated real-time volume change, and there was excellent correlation between computed stroke volume with the impedance method and measured stroke volume with the electromagnetic flowmeter. In chronic animal tests with goats and in a clinical case, the impedance method measured pump output accurately, and it detected diaphragm motion in real-time. In addition, excellent durability was seen. Full-fill to full-empty drive was realized accurately with this method. Application of the impedance method was easy, and it did not deteriorate native antithrombogencity of the pump. The impedance method is practical and useful to estimate the pumping condition of a pulsatile blood pump, especially a diaphragm pump. This method would be useful in clinical application.