Intravascular ventricular assist device

摘要

INTRAVASCULAR VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICE According to an aspect there is provided a method of providing cardiac assistance to a mammalian subject. The method comprises the steps of advancing a pump (10) including a housing (12) having a bore (14), one or more rotors (56) disposed within the bore and one or more stators (48) disposed outside of the housing, through the vascular system of the subject until the pump is disposed at an operative position at least partially within an artery of the subject and securing the pump at the operative position. The method also includes the step of actuating the pump to spin the one or more rotors and pump blood distally within the artery solely by applying electrical currents to the one or more stators and to suspend the one or more stators within the bore solely by forces selected from the group consisting of magnetic and hydrodynamic forces applied to the one or more rotors.