A structural analysis of a medical device (Heart Dumper) integrated inside a 3D finite element model of a ventricle is presented.
Heart Damper is conceived as an implantable cardiac device, aiming at supporting heart pumping activity, reduced due to heart failure. Twenty five million people all over the world are affected by heart failure and their number is estimated to increase. Currently available treatments comprise pharmacological therapy, invasive device implantation or, in case of patients who are less than 65 years of age, cardiac transplantation. In this context Heart Damper represents an innovative and promising solution in treating this disease.
The aim of the present study is to develop a computational model capable of simulating the interaction between the device and the ventricular chamber, so as to verify its efficacy in increasing ejection fraction and lowering cardiac work.
First a computational model has been developed in order to simulate physiological and pathological behavior of the left ventricle both during systole and diastole cycles. Volume and pressure values have been obtained from literature and have been used to calibrate the computational models for normal and insufficient heart. Then an FE model of the Heart Damper was created and bonded to the ventricle. Performances of the pathological ventricle alone or in presence of the device have been obtained and the results of the computational analysis showed an increase in cardiac output and ejection fraction and also an improvement in the ventricular efficiency.