The treatment of children with life-threatening cardiac and cardiopulmonary failure is a large and underappreciated public health concern. We have previously shown that the CentriMag is a magnetically levitated centrifugal pump system, having the utility for treating adults and large children (1,500 utilized worldwide). We present here the PediVAS, a pump system whose design was modified from the CentriMag to meet the physiological requirements of young pediatric and neonatal patients. The PediVAS is comprised of a single-use centrifugal blood pump, reusable motor, and console, and is suitable for right ventricular assist device (RVAD), left ventricular assist device (LVAD), biventricular assist device (BVAD), or extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) applications. It is designed to operate without bearings, seals and valves, and without regions of blood stasis, friction, or wear. The PediVAS pump is compatible with the CentriMag hardware, although the priming volume was reduced from 31 to 14 ml, and the port size reduced from 3/8 to (1/4) in. For the expected range of pediatric flow (0.3-3.0 L/min), the PediVAS exhibited superior hydraulic efficiency compared with the CentriMag. The PediVAS was evaluated in 14 pediatric animals for up to 30 days, demonstrating acceptable hydraulic function and hemocompatibility. The current results substantiate the performance and biocompatibility of the PediVAS cardiac assist system and are likely to support initiation of a US clinical trial in the future.

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The Levitronix PediVAS is an extracorporeal magnetically levitated pediatric ventricular assist system with an optimal flow rate range of 0.3 – 1.5 L/min. The system is being tested in preclinical studies to assess hemodynamic performance and biocompatibility. The PediVAS was implanted in 9 ovines for 30 days duration using either commercially available cannulae (N = 3) or customized Levitronix cannulae (N = 6). Blood biocompatibility in terms of circulating activated platelets was measured by flow cytometric assays to detect P-selectin. Platelet activation was further examined following exogenous agonist stimulation. Platelet activation rose following surgery and eventually returned to baseline in animal studies where minimal kidney infarcts were observed. Platelet activation remained elevated for the duration of the study in animals where a moderate number of kidney infarcts with or without thrombotic deposition in the cannulae were observed. When platelet activation did return to baseline, platelets appropriately responded to agonist stimulation signifying conserved platelet function following PediVAS implant. Platelet activation returned to baseline in the majority of studies, representing a promising biocompatibility result for the Levitronix PediVAS.