Magnetically Active Cardiac Patches as an Untethered, Non-Blood Contacting Ventricular Assist Device

Patients suffering from heart failure often require circulatory support using ventricular assist devices (VADs). However, most existing VADs provide nonpulsatile flow, involve direct contact between the blood flow and the device's lumen and moving components, and require a driveline to connect to an external power source. These design features often lead to complications such as gastrointestinal bleeding, device thrombosis, and driveline infections. Here, a concept of magnetically active cardiac patches (MACPs) that can potentially function as non-blood contacting, untethered pulsatile VADs inside a magnetic actuationsystem is reported. The MACPs, which are composed of permanent magnets and 3D-printed patches, are attached to the epicardial surfaces, thus avoiding direct contact with the blood flow. They provide powerful actuation assisting native heart pumping inside a magnetic actuation system. In ex vivo experiments on a healthy pig's heart, it is shown that the ventricular ejection fractions are as high as 37% in the left ventricle and 63% in the right ventricle. Non-blood contacting, untethered VADs can eliminate the risk of serious complications associated with existing devices, and provide an alternative solution for myocardial training and therapy for patients with heart failure.