ventricular assist device

Chronic heart failure is one of the most common medical conditions worldwide with about 30 million people suffering from it. Due to the blatant donor shortage and associated high mortality of patients on the waiting list, systems for mechanical circulatory support are of increasing clinical importance. Established systems work on the basis of counterpulsation pumps, centrifugal pumps, volume displacement pumps or axial flow pumps. However, various problems have accompanied the development of these systems for decades, and in some cases satisfactory solutions have not yet been fully realized: biocompatibility, durability, drive source, thrombogenicity, bleeding complications, infections. The main problem with all available concepts is the direct blood contact, from which the above-mentioned complications arise. These problems, which can not be solved with existing systems, call for alternative solutions. Since the middle of the last century, therefore, the possibility of direct cardiac compression from the outside is considered, in which the direct blood contact could be avoided and the above-mentioned complications could be avoided.

In the requested study, the basic concept of this idea will be examined for the first time by exact interdisciplinary scientific investigation, both from a medical and a technical point of view.

In the requested SFB, the LSP deals with the optimization of silicone elastomers as the basis material for an “artificial heart muscle” with regard to their electro-mechanical and dynamic-mechanical properties as well as their biocompatibility.
Kooperationspartner:

Cooperation partners:

FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg:

Lehrstuhl für Polymerwerkstoffe – Arbeitsgruppe Polymer Physics and Processing

Lehrstuhl für Glas und Keramik

Lehrstuhl für Biomaterialien

FAPS- Lehrstuhl für Fertigungstechnik

Lehrstuhl für Kunststofftechnik

Lehrstuhl für Mustererkennung

Lehrstuhl für technische Elektronik

Lehrstuhl für technische Mechanik

Lehrstuhl für Prozessmaschinen und Anlagetechnik

Institute of Medical Biotechnology