Numerical investigation of hemodynamics in the artificial artery-aorta anastomosis and the inflow cannula in ventricular assist systems to prevent complications

Cardiovascular diseases are the most frequent cause of fatality among older populations. Congestive heart failure makes up a considerably large portion of cardiovascular diseases. Ventricular assist devices, which have an increasing success rate in clinical applications, are used to solve these problems. But even with optimized heart pumps fatal complications can occur because of the deformations around the inflow cannula or through the artificial artery ? aorta anastomosis. Due to high rotational speeds of heart pumps, blood cells pass through the pump rapidly and usually without undergoing any deformation. As blood cells flow from the left ventricle into the inflow cannula, flow velocity decreases and reverse flow zones occur, both of which may lead to hemolysis and thrombosis. Similarly, the change in the hemodynamics through the artificial artery ? aorta anastomosis causes deformation of blood cells and endothelium. To investigate the inflow cannula of heart pumps and the artificial artery ? aorta anastomosis and possible clinical consequences, in order to decrease complications and increase the success rate of ventricular assist devices, which is a very difficult and expensive therapy option, computational fluid dynamics analysis were performed using patient-specific geometrical models and boundary conditions. The simulations indicate that the positions of the anastomosis and the cannula have important effects on flow. CFD results provide insight on the altered hemodynamics in the aforementioned regions.