Thrombus Detection in the Artificial Heart Pump Based on Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy

Heart disease is one of the major diseases threatening people’s lives and health. The development of artificial heart pumps has eased the shortage of transplanted hearts. However, the natural formation of thrombus in artificial heart pumps deeply limits its further development. How to precisely detect thrombus in artificial heart pumps has been an urgent research. This study focuses on the high incidence of thrombus formation in VADs, or ventricular assist devices, and the potential dangers that arise from thrombus, including harm to the human body. This study employs an artificial heart pump as a model to investigate the impact of variables such as thrombus thickness, thrombus area, blood concentration, and blood sedimentation time on blood flow through the artificial heart pump. By analyzing this data, we aim to prevent pipeline blockages and impeller rotation obstructions caused by thrombus formation. Results showed that blood impedance increased from 11.6379 to $14.4971 \Omega $ as thrombus thickness increased from 0 to 8 mm. The diameters of the annular thrombus were 40.47, 50.38, and 60.76 mm, respectively, and the electrical impedance values of blood in the artificial heart pump were 15.4150, 15.9288, and $16.4748 \Omega $ . The blood concentration increased from 22% to 58%, the blood electrical impedance value increased from 29.3137 to $90.0740 \Omega $ . After 20 min of blood sedimentation, the electrical impedance of blood increased from 37.3680 to $37.6949 \Omega $ with the increase of sedimentation time. In the case that the artificial heart contains a thrombus, the thickness and area of the thrombus are linearly related to the thrombus resistance. Experimental results are in good agreement with simulation results. This research presents a thrombus formation detection method based on electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), which holds significant research importance and practical application in the realm of preventing thrombus diseases for artificial hearts.