Suction Detection in Left Ventricular Assist System: Data Fusion Approach

Data fusion approach is investigated to avoid suction in the left ventricular assist system (LVAS) using a nonpulsatile pump. LVAS requires careful control of pump speed to support the heart while preventing suction in the left ventricle and providing proper cardiac output at adequate perfusion pressure to the body. Since the implanted sensors are usually unreliable for long-term use, a sensorless approach is adopted to detect suction. The pump model is developed to provide the load coefficient as a necessary signal to the data fusion system without the implanted sensors. The load coefficient of the pump mimics the pulsatility property of the actual pump flow and provides more comparable information than the pump flow after suction occurs. Four signals are generated from the load coefficient as inputs to the data fusion system for suction detection and a neural fuzzy method is implemented to construct the data fusion system. The data fusion approach has a good ability to classify suction status and it can also be used to design a controller for LVAS.