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Control of Left Ventricular Assist Devices

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Encyclopedia of Systems and Control

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Abstract

Heart failure is a disease that happens when the heart cannot pump enough oxygenated blood into the circulatory system to support other organs in the body. A left ventricular assist device (or LVAD) is a mechanical pump that may be implanted in patients who suffer from advanced heart failure to assist their heart in its pumping function. The pump is connected from the left ventricle to the aorta and forms a parallel path of blood flow into the circulatory system. The latest generation of these devices consists of rotary pumps, which are generally much smaller, lighter, and quieter than the first-generation pulsatile-type pumps. The LVAD is controlled by varying the pump rotor speed to adjust the amount of blood flow contributed by the device. If the patient is in a healthcare facility, the rotor speed can be adjusted manually by a trained clinician. An important limitation facing the increased use of these devices is the desire to allow the patient to return home and resume a normal lifestyle. This limitation may be overcome if a physiological controller can be developed to automatically adjust the pump speed based on the patient’s need for blood flow. Although several possible experimental controllers have recently been developed and tested in laboratory settings, the current practice remains limited to the pump speed being adjusted by the physician and fixed at a constant setting before allowing the patient to leave the healthcare facility. The development of a physiological controller for the continuous flow rotary LVAD remains an important challenge that has occupied LVAD researchers and engineers for the past several decades.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Marwan A. Simaan

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  1. Marwan A. Simaan
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Correspondence to Marwan A. Simaan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    John Baillieul

  2. Automation and Control Solutions, Honeywell, Golden Valley, MN, USA

    Tariq Samad

Section Editor information

  1. Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA

    B. Wayne Bequette

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Simaan, M.A. (2020). Control of Left Ventricular Assist Devices. In: Baillieul, J., Samad, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Systems and Control. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_100135-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_100135-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-5102-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-5102-9

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