The effects of a novel entrainment blood pump implantation position on the aortic hemodynamics under the pulsatile flow condition

Cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) exhibits high in-hospital mortality. Although aortic entrainment pumps can improve CRS patients' hemodynamics, they can carry risks of blood-related complications. The limitations are further exacerbated by existing numerical studies, which often neglect arterial compliance and transient cardiac effects. Therefore, this study employed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combined with a three-element Windkessel model to investigate the impact of different implantation positions on the aortic hemodynamics. The results showed that the blood pump implanted in the middle location of the aorta yielded the maximum aortic pressure and significantly enhanced the perfusion of the renal arteries. The blood pump induced the peak levels of wall shear stress (WSS) and scalar shear stress (SSS) at the peak systole phase. Posterior displacement of the blood pump reduced the hemolysis index (HI) by 19.6%, yet it resulted in an average increase of 4.9% in the thrombosis index (TI) across the entire cardiac cycle. This study used dynamic boundary conditions and made the working environment of the blood pump in the aorta more realistic. Meanwhile, the optimal implantation position of the blood pump in clinical treatment has a positive effect on improving the treatment effect.