In Australia a team of biomechanical engineers from the University of New South Wales with the assistance of a contributor from Queensland University of Technology and cardiac surgeons from St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney has constructed an artificial human heart LV which will be used to train heart surgeons and other physicians.
In the science robotics journal, the group explains how they developed the artificial LV, the characteristics that it has, and some of the ways it could be used.
Due to this fact, the researchers refer to the LV as a kind of robot, which is however capable of mimicking the functions of the human heart. While designing the LV, the researchers set themselves a target of developing a model that was capable of reproducing all of the types of movements present in a living heart and which included radial motion.
To develop such a device, they tried to mimic the three fundamental muscle groups present in the human heart.
The LV they designed possesses three layers to mimic the epicardium, the transmural, and the endocardium, which are embodied using the ‘tunable hydraulic filament artificial muscle fibres.’ This enabled them to fine-tune heart muscle density, the orientation of the tissue which interconnects and joins muscles together, and the shape of the ventricles. The LV is also capable of pumping simulated blood.
Characterising of the device has been carried out by hooking it to hoses that circulate the mimic blood in a circuit.
The organs on offer were displayed by surgeons on St Vincent’s Hospital by holding the device while still and after having it beaten to simulate real human heart and the device was probed in terms of compatibility with human blood, as well as the rate at which the organ was able to pump blood through the hoses.
Doing so, they discovered that the LV is capable of mimicking the real actions of a human heart.
The team also checked how the device can be set to resemble other heart conditions that must be treated in clinical scenarios and how the device would carry on like a human heart as it was repaired by a heart surgeon, having the LV fitted with an intra-aortic balloon pump while it was still pumping.
In their conclusion the team alleges that their device is far better a training tool than other artificial hearts currently on the market, and anticipates the machines to become tools for clinicians, teachers and learners mastering the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Reference:
Yirka B. Artificial left ventricle mimics the shape and function of the human heart Medical Xpress
