Soft robotic sleeve supports heart function.

Journal: Science translational medicine
Published Date: Jan 18, 2017

Abstract

There is much interest in form-fitting, low-modulus, implantable devices or soft robots that can mimic or assist in complex biological functions such as the contraction of heart muscle. We present a soft robotic sleeve that is implanted around the heart and actively compresses and twists to act as a cardiac ventricular assist device. The sleeve does not contact blood, obviating the need for anticoagulation therapy or blood thinners, and reduces complications with current ventricular assist devices, such as clotting and infection. Our approach used a biologically inspired design to orient individual contracting elements or actuators in a layered helical and circumferential fashion, mimicking the orientation of the outer two muscle layers of the mammalian heart. The resulting implantable soft robot mimicked the form and function of the native heart, with a stiffness value of the same order of magnitude as that of the heart tissue. We demonstrated feasibility of this soft sleeve device for supporting heart function in a porcine model of acute heart failure. The soft robotic sleeve can be customized to patient-specific needs and may have the potential to act as a bridge to transplant for patients with heart failure.

Authors

  • Ellen T Roche
    School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  • Markus A Horvath
    School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  • Isaac Wamala
    Department of Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
  • Ali Alazmani
    School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  • Sang-Eun Song
    Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
  • William Whyte
    School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  • Zurab Machaidze
    Department of Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
  • Christopher J Payne
  • James C Weaver
    Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  • Gregory Fishbein
    Department of Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Ronald Reagan UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
  • Joseph Kuebler
    Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
  • Nikolay V Vasilyev
    Department of Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
  • David J Mooney
    School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  • Frank A Pigula
    Department of Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. walsh@seas.harvard.edu frank.pigula@ulp.org.
  • Conor J Walsh
    John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. walsh@seas.harvard.edu.

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