Innovative Cardiac Pump for Weakened Hearts

The heart is sometimes in a weakened state when recovering from certain diseases or while waiting for a transplant. EPFL researchers have developed a new cardiac support system in the form of a small ring placed on the aorta. This device is less invasive than traditional methods and avoids problems of hemolysis and the need for regular transfusions because it does not come into direct contact with the blood. The device is made up of three tiny rings made out of a material with special electrical properties. The device, called a Dielectric Electro Active polymer (DEAP), dilates when a current is applied and contracts when it is switched off. Because the reactions are immediate, the back-and-forth movement can be controlled in real time.

Transcript

00:00:05 so this system is to recover the functionality of the heart to recover these functionalities the idea is to put a system to help the heart pumping and to do it for six to twelve months and then to have the possibility to recover and then to put out this device from the body the principle is to help the heart by making the functionality of the left ventricle in doing this we want to

00:00:33 replace the pumping of the heart and so we want to put a system inside the body around the errata to replace this faction the material consists of a thin silicon film with a thickness between generally 20 and 50 micrometer and electrode are put on each side of the film and when you apply a quite high electric field the electrode will move closer due to the electrostatic force

00:00:59 and the polymer will be flattened and because material is incompressible the surface will be extended and the idea is to use this planar actuator to create our pump by roll the silicon in a cylinder shape system we know now has contact with the blood we have valves we have a propeller sometimes and these devices can harm the blood cells we call these hemolysis and with our system we

00:01:31 have no hem eliza's because no contact at all with the blood we are around the our toe and furthermore no valves in the system which is quite simple afterwards to implement for the surgeon a second big advantages is to have no wires through the skin to supply our system so you have one coil outside one coil inside and through the magnetic energy we can transmit from outside to inside

00:02:01 the body the energy to supply our device