Control of a Mechanical Blood Pump based on a Trade-off between Aortic Valve Dynamics and Cardiac Outputs

Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is a therapeutic option for advanced heart failure (HF) patients. This mechanical device assists a failing heart to circulate blood in the human body by adjusting its pump speed according to cardiac output. However, to use an LVAD for bridge-to-recovery, other criteria (e.g., aortic valve function) should be also considered to reduce complications of the LVAD implantation. In this work, we present an optimization-based control approach to meet the circulatory demand of blood, while maintaining the aortic valve to open and close repeatedly in a cardiac cycle. To validate the performance of the control method, several case studies were investigated, which incorporate different levels of HF severity and physical activity. The results show that the optimization-based control algorithm can quantify the trade-off between the aortic valve function and the blood flow, which will meet clinicians' long quest to improve the myocardial functions for the use of an LVAD as bridge-to-recovery.Clinical Relevance - The efficacy of the control algorithm was validated with computer experiments, showing its potential as a bridge to recovery or as a long-term treatment plan for HF.