Effect of Blade Thickness on Hemodynamics and Hemolysis: A Case Study of Pediatric Centrifugal Blood Pumps.

Blood pumps have become popular whether for use as an implantable ventricular assist device or as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The quality of these pumps is assessed according to their ability to reduce the risk of blood damage thanks to an optimal choice of their geometric and operating properties. Lack of the research focused on the geometrical optimization of impellers has prompted this study. This study evaluated a computational and experimental analysis comparing the hemolytic performance of three centrifugal pumps. For this purpose, methods of Eulerian and Lagrangian are respectively used for hemodynamic and hemocompatibility investigations. Referring to the pediatric demands, these pumps function under clinically applicable pressure-flow conditions: 1 l/min of blood flow and a pressure differential of 60 mm Hg. These three pumps all use the same volute, but their impellers differ in terms of blade thickness. The objective is to examine how surface area affects the generation of hemolysis. In silico simulations were employed for both of the following tasks: first, identifying the distributions of velocities, pressures, and shear stresses; second, applying the Lagrangian approach to estimate the hemolysis index. Results showed the importance of the flow passage and the surface of the clearance on the hemocompatibility of the pumps. However, it was observed that there is not a linear effect of the blade thickness on the shear stress or index of hemolysis. Additionally, this work can provide information to develop an optimal design of a more hemocompatible blood pump.