摘要 |
A blood pump may be adapted to sense the onset of left ventricular collapse by monitoring a pulsatility index, and may adjust the pump speed to maintain the index at a setpoint. The pulsatility index may be measured by the amount of difference between the maximum and the minimum volume of flow through the pump during a particular time period. The setpoint may be increased when the onset of ventricular collapse is detected, for example, when the pulsatility index falls suddenly. The setpoint may be decreased incrementally when the onset of ventricular collapse has not been detected for a period of time, such as for a particular period of time since the last detection of the onset of ventricular collapse. <IMAGE>
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