Hemolysis in Medical Devices

Abstract

Implantable assistive devices give hope of a permanent clinical solution to people with chronic failure, such as heart or kidney failures. While long-term use of continuous-blood flow is being researched, the eliminating the extreme level of blood damage in these devices is an important design challenge. Blood damage or hemolysis depends on exposure time and shear stress, and device designers have usually preferred design estimations and calculations rather than experimental studies to make a decision in their design. In this mini review, the hemolysis aspects are reviewed to explain the risk of blood cell damage in implantable artificial devices.