Muscle-Powered Counterpulsation for Untethered, Non-Blood-Contacting Cardiac Support: A Path to Destination Therapy.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiovascular Devices
• Regenerative Medicine

Background:

• Conventional ventricular assist devices (VADs) face challenges including infections from percutaneous drivelines and thrombosis from blood-contacting surfaces.
• Existing VADs often require external hardware, impacting patient quality of life and increasing infection risks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and describe a novel muscle-powered cardiac assist device.
• To overcome limitations of current VADs by eliminating driveline infections and thromboembolic events.

Main Methods:

• Utilizes an internal muscle energy converter to drive a non-blood-contacting extra-aortic balloon pump.
• Converts contractile energy from the latissimus dorsi muscle into hydraulic power for pulsatile actuation.
• Employs counterpulsatile balloon pumps compressing the ascending aorta externally during diastole.

Main Results:

• The proposed system significantly reduces infection risk by eliminating the need for a constant skin wound.
• Eliminates external hardware, thereby improving patient quality of life.
• The non-blood-contacting pump increases cardiac output and coronary perfusion without direct blood interaction.

Conclusions:

• This integrated system offers a safe, tether-free solution for long-term circulatory support in heart failure.
• The muscle-powered, non-blood-contacting approach addresses critical complications of current VADs.
• Provides a potential pathway for extended or indefinite support of the failing heart.