Medical engineering & physics
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The impeller blood pump with its simplicity has many advantages compared with the diaphragm pump, but the nonpulsatile property has limited its applications. To make the impeller pump pulsatile, many investigations have been made in vain because of resulting haemolysis. The author has succeeded in producing a pulsatile blood flow with a centrifugal pump, by means of the streamlined design of the impeller. ⋯ Two pumps are located on both sides of and driven by a d.c. motor. As the motor changes its rotating speed periodically, the left and right pumps eject the blood simultaneously, and the volume equilibrium of both pumps is achieved naturally. Acute biventricular assist experiments in pig confirmed that the device caused no blood damage.