Patent ID: 8562507

Claim:
A blood pump system, comprising: a blood pump having an inflow conduit for receiving blood from a left ventricle of a heart and an outflow conduit for returning blood to a circulatory system; and a controller operably connected to the blood pump; wherein the inflow conduit comprises a first sensor to detect an inflow conduit pressure that is substantially the same as left ventricular pressure, wherein the first sensor is adapted to send a signal regarding the inflow conduit pressure to the controller, wherein the outflow conduit comprises a second sensor to detect an outflow conduit pressure that is substantially the same as arterial pressure, wherein the second sensor is adapted to send a signal regarding the outflow conduit pressure to the controller, and wherein the controller is adapted to send a signal to the blood pump such that the speed of the blood pump is adjusted at a particular interval to increase left ventricular pressure as detected by the first sensor relative to arterial pressure as detected by the second sensor to open an aortic valve of the heart.