In 1992, I designed a flow visualization system for Ken Butler’s Nimbus micro-turbine AxiPump ( click here to see my work with the great rocket engineer Kenneth Clark Butler ), Thirty years later, I designed a flow visualization system for a highly advanced version of Ken’s Nimbus AxiPump: The Elevate™ pLVAD, percutaneous Left Ventricular Assist Device. It is being developed by Magenta Medical of Kadima, Israel.

The Elevate pLVAD is the smallest artificial heart pump in the world.   It is a low-profile, high-flow arterial pump intended for temporary support of patients undergoing high-risk coronary interventions and for the treatment of patients admitted with cardiogenic shock.

The Elevate pLVAD shrivels for insertion into the left ventricle through a vein.   When in the left ventricle, the pLVAD expands into a microturbine pump spinning at 24,000 RPM.  

Click here to see my contract with Magenta Medical

In May of 2023, Magenta Medical received $55 million dollars in private-sector funding to advance the clinical programs of the Elevate LVAD in the United States towards FDA approval.

In March of 2025, clinical trials of the Elevate pLVAD is now began in patients. Here’s a link to a March 2025 article “Magenta Medical: The Beginning of a New Era in Protected PCI?” in the peer-reviewed Journal of Artificial Organs

THE MICROTURBINE
IN THE HATTLER RESPIRATORY ASSIST CATHETER

Click to watch video