Welcome Fred! You didn't bring Sid with you, did you? ;-)) Just kidding Sid, ha ha.
I don't know the patent number but I don't believe it has anything to do with the Snyders patent. The HeartSaver is patent pending in the U.S. so perhaps it hasn't been loaded on the IBM system.
The HeartSaver does consist of an electrically powered pump, the components of which are a ventricle (a blood chamber), a dual sectioned volume-displacement chamber, a motor, a passive fill valve and an internal controller, all integrated. The blood flows from the natural heart's left ventricle into the HeartSaver's ventricle. This chamber is separated from the adjacent volume displacement chamber by a diaphragm. The pumping action is accomplished by a combination of the motor and a passive fill valve alternately filling (with hydraulic fluid) and then emptying the two sections of the volume-displacement chamber. This pumping action actuates the blood chamber diaphragm which in turn pumps the blood out of the device's ventricle to the patient's aorta. The hydraulic fluid also does double duty as a lubricant for the energy convertor (motor), and helps disperse any heat generated by it.
The Snyders patent you mention sounds like it would have application for certain types of heart failure, providing the ventricle could still function on it's own. There are an estimated 20 million people worldwide with heart failure currently, so there's lots of potential for the first half dozen in the market, know what I mean...
Interestingly, some of the literature I read suggested that the heart can in fact sometimes regenerate itself after being assisted by a VAD for a period of time. Ain't the human body amazing!
Dan
P.S. Fred, if you had anything to do with the TET, you have to buy a 1,000 shares, just for old times sake :-) |
