Transcutaneous Energy Transfer System for Cardiac Assist Devices by Use of Inhomogeneous Biocompatible Core Material

This manuscript was published at 08.10.2021 by the <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=20">IEEE Transactions on Magnetics</a>. <div><br><div>Regarding Mr. Sivo's Email, the accepted version of the manuscript is now uploaded which also includes the corresponding DOI.</div></div>

Mock circulatory loops used for testing cardiac assist devices: A review of computational and experimental models

Heart failure is a major health risk, and with limited availability of donor organs, there is an increasing need for developing cardiac assist devices (CADs). Mock circulatory loops (MCL) are an important in-vitro test platform for CAD’s performance assessment and optimisation. The MCL is a lumped parameter model constructed out of hydraulic and mechanical components aiming to simulate the native cardiovascular system (CVS) as closely as possible. Further development merged MCLs and numerical circulatory models to improve flexibility and accuracy of the system; commonly known as hybrid MCLs. A total of 128 MCLs were identified in a literature research until 25 September 2020. It was found that the complexity of the MCLs rose over the years, recent MCLs are not only capable of mimicking the healthy and pathological conditions, but also implemented cerebral, renal and coronary circulations and autoregulatory responses. Moreover, the development of anatomical models made flow visualisation studies possible. Mechanical MCLs showed excellent controllability and repeatability, however, often the CVS was overly simplified or lacked autoregulatory responses. In numerical MCLs the CVS is represented with a higher order of lumped parameters compared to mechanical test rigs, however, complex physiological aspects are often simplified. In hybrid MCLs complex physiological aspects are implemented in the hydraulic part of the system, whilst the numerical model represents parts of the CVS that are too difficult to represent by mechanical components per se. This review aims to describe the advances, limitations and future directions of the three types of MCLs.

Carotid Doppler Ultrasound: Beyond Stenosis

Carotid Doppler ultrasound is frequently used to evaluate for stenosis when a patient presents with stroke-like symptoms. This article aims to increase awareness of various sonographic findings associated with less common scenarios encountered when interpreting carotid Doppler examinations, such as aortic stenosis, aortic insufficiency, cardiac assist devices, and carotid-internal jugular fistula. Ultimately, carotid Doppler ultrasound is a useful tool in diagnosis and subsequent management of a multitude of clinical scenarios that may be encountered when interpreting carotid ultrasounds.

A Short Commentary Based on our Article Entitled “Capillary Networks for Bio-Artificial Three-Dimensional Tissues Fabricated Using Cell Sheet Based Tissue Engineering”

The development of organ-like tissues is the next major challenge facing regenerative medicine. Organ-like structures have been synthesized on a small scale, but overcoming current problems with cell sourcing and scalability will facilitate the creation of cardiac assist devices and organs for transplantation. A major obstacle to generating Three-Dimensional (3D) tissues is that diffusion is inadequate for the supply of oxygen/nutrients and removal of waste products, which limits the thickness of the structure to about 0.1 mm

Inductive Transcutaneous Power Transfer Design for Cardiac Assist Devices by Use of Inhomogeneous Biocompatible Core Material

This manuscript was submitted at 29.12.2020 to the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Inductive Transcutaneous Power Transfer Design for Cardiac Assist Devices by Use of Inhomogeneous Biocompatible Core Material

This manuscript was submitted at 29.12.2020 to the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Assessment of Coagulation and Hemostasis Biomarkers in a Subset of Patients With Chronic Cardiovascular Disease

Measurement of a single marker of coagulation may not provide a complete picture of hemostasis activation and fibrinolysis in patients with chronic cardiovascular diseases. We assessed retrospective orders of a panel which included prothrombin fragment 1.2 (PF1.2), thrombin: antithrombin complexes, fibrin monomers, and D-dimers in patients with heart assist devices, cardiomyopathies, atrial fibrillation and intracardiac thrombosis (based on ordering ICD-10 codes). During 1 year there were 117 panels from 81 patients. Fifty-six (69%) patients had heart assist devices, cardiomyopathy was present in 17 patients (21%) and 29 patients (36%) had more than 1 condition. PF1.2 was most frequently elevated in patients with cardiomyopathy (61.1%) compared to those with cardiac assist devices (15.7%; P = 0.0002). D-dimer elevation was more frequent in patients with cardiac assist devices (98.8%) compared to those patients with cardiomyopathy (83.3%; P = 0.014). Patients with cardiomyopathy show increases of PF1.2 suggesting thrombin generation. In contrast, elevations of D-dimers without increase in other coagulation markers in patients with cardiac assist devices likely reflect the presence of the intravascular device and not necessarily evidence of hemostatic activation.