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A High Performance Pulsatile Pump for Aortic Flow Experiments in 3-Dimensional Models

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Abstract

Aortic pathologies such as coarctation, dissection, and aneurysm represent a particularly emergent class of cardiovascular diseases. Computational simulations of aortic flows are growing increasingly important as tools for gaining understanding of these pathologies, as well as for planning their surgical repair. In vitro experiments are required to validate the simulations against real world data, and the experiments require a pulsatile flow pump system that can provide physiologic flow conditions characteristic of the aorta. We designed a newly capable piston-based pulsatile flow pump system that can generate high volume flow rates (850 mL/s), replicate physiologic waveforms, and pump high viscosity fluids against large impedances. The system is also compatible with a broad range of fluid types, and is operable in magnetic resonance imaging environments. Performance of the system was validated using image processing-based analysis of piston motion as well as particle image velocimetry. The new system represents a more capable pumping solution for aortic flow experiments than other available designs, and can be manufactured at a relatively low cost.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission (ABRC Grant #11028752), National Science Foundation (NSF CAREER Award #1151232), the Ira A. Fulton Endowment, and ARCS Foundation.

Conflict of interest

Rafeed A. Chaudhury, Victor Atlasman, Girish Pathangey, Nicholas Pracht, Ronald J. Adrian, and David H. Frakes declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Studies

No human or animal studies were carried out by the authors for this article.

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Correspondence to Rafeed A. Chaudhury.

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Communicated by John Timothy Baldwin.

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Chaudhury, R.A., Atlasman, V., Pathangey, G. et al. A High Performance Pulsatile Pump for Aortic Flow Experiments in 3-Dimensional Models. Cardiovasc Eng Tech 7, 148–158 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13239-016-0260-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13239-016-0260-3

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