A Novel Electro-Mechanical Ventricular Assist Device for Refractory Cardiac Insufficiency Antonio Boccaccio Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Gestionale, Politecnico di Bari Bari, Italy Carmine Carbone Cardiochirurgia, Casa di Cura “Villa Bianca”, Bari, Italy Umberto Galietti Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Gestionale, Politecnico di Bari Bari, Italy Filippo Mastropasqua Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, Institute for Clinical Care and Research (IRCCS), Scientific Institute of Cassano Murge, Bari, Italy Carmine Pappalettere Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Gestionale, Politecnico di Bari Bari, Italy Abstract—The most severe limitation of the Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) currently utilized is their invasivity; they work as a bypass between the left ventricular apex and the aorta. A possible strategy that can be adopted to overcome such a limitation consists in utilizing systems that assist the heart in its contraction from the outside without directly transporting the blood and that do not require highly invasive surgical treatments. In this study we conduct the feasibility analysis of a novel LVAD design that allows the principal limitations of traditional circulatory support systems to be overcome. An experimental set-up was assembled to measure the main quantities necessary for a preliminary design of the proposed appliance. The device includes a stepper motor, three metallic wires and three elastic elements configured to surround the heart. It works alternatively between a contraction condition and a release condition. A first prototype of the proposed appliance was realized. The values of force acting on the wires as well as the values of current supplied to the stepper motor were measured and utilized for a preliminary study design of the device. The experimental measurements demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed appliance. The next step consists in testing the device in a survival animal experiment. The introduction of such a device in the clinical world would allow solving most of the problems related with the highly invasive nature of the traditional ventricular assist devices. Keywords-component; Cardiac Failure; Ventricular Assist Device; Circulatory Assist Devices I. INTRODUCTION Although heart transplantation remains the gold standard for patients who remain in advanced heart failure in spite of optimal medical management, the limited availability of donors allows, in the US, only about 2000 transplants, each year, to be conducted. For this reason, the attention of cardiologists has focused on the development of mechanical circulatory support systems, such as the ventricular assist devices, for this ever- growing population of sick patients [1]. The first application of a ventricular assist system was in 1963 by DeBakey [2] for support of postoperative cardiogenic shock. Since the 1980s Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) as well as biventricular assist devices have been used for the treatment of patients with severe heart failure accompanied by shock and multiple organ dysfunction, with perspective of future transplantation [3]. During these years, four principal types of pulsatile-flow LVADs developed: ABIOMED, Thoratec, Novacor, Heartmate [3]. Later, new LVADs have been designed to guarantee a continuous flow. In early 2000, the new system Jarvik 2000 has been introduced that requires less invasive implantation procedure than the Heartmate or Novacor devices [4]. Almost in the same years, the DeBakey VAD has been developed as well, it is comprised of a heart pump the design of which has been studied -based in part on technology used in space shuttle fuel pumps- to minimize haemolysis. The availability of efficient technologies, as well as the development of innovative materials allowed high performance LVADs to be designed and realized, thus originating the concept of LVAD as a destination therapy [5] or as a bridge to recovery [3]. The most important limitation of using the LVADs is their invasivity. They work as a bypass between the left ventricular apex and the ascending aorta, the blood is constrained to flow through the components of the circulatory device and the risk of thrombogenesis, haemolysis and infections can be run. Such a limitation appears yet more severe in light of the results reported by Birks et al. [6], who found that sustained reversal of severe heart failure secondary to nonischemic cardiomyopathy could be achieved in selected patients with the use of a LVAD and a specific pharmacologic regimen. After drug therapy, the patients have to undergo explantation of the LVAD; given the highly invasive nature of the device, explantation could be a dangerous surgical operation [6]. A possible strategy that can be adopted to overcome such a limitation consists in utilizing systems that assist the heart in its contraction from the outside without directly transporting the blood. It is the case of the latissimus dorsi cardiomyoplasty utilized for the treatment of patients with dilated or ischemic cardiomyopathyes [7]. However, long-term benefits of this 978-1-4244-9338-8/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE