Patent attributes
The invention generally relates to heart pump systems. In some embodiments, a pressure sensor is provided with a heart pump, either at the inflow or the outflow of the blood pump. The heart pump may further include a flow estimator based on a rotor drive current signal delivered to the rotor. Based on the rotor drive current signal, a differential pressure across the pump may be calculated. The differential pressure in combination with the pressure measurements from the pressure sensor may be used to calculate pressure on the opposite side of the pump from the pressure sensor. In some embodiments, the pressure sensor is located at the outflow of the pump and the pump is coupled with the left ventricle. The differential pressure and pressure measurement may be used to calculate a left ventricular pressure waveform of the patient. With such a measurement, other physiological parameters may be derived.