WEARABLE AIR SUPPLY FOR ARTIFICIAL HEART DEVELOPMENT

THE GOAL OF THE PHASE II PROGRAM IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE, BATTERY-OPERATED, WEARABLE AIR SUPPLY FOR PNEUMATICALLY OPERATED, IMPLANTED ARTIFICIAL HEARTS. THE ULTRAMIN-IATUREIZED AIR SUPPLY IS DESSIGNED TO BE WORN BY AMBULATORY PATIENTS WITH IMPLANTED, PNEUMATIC TOTAL ARTIFICIAL HEARTS OR IMPLANTED, PNEUMATIC LEFT-VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICES. THE WEARABLE SUPPLY WILL PERMIT MOBILITY IN THE HOME, AND AWAY FROM HOME IT EILL PROVIDE NECESSARY RELIABILITY AND BACKUP TO LARGER, HEAVIER PROTABLE UNITS. THE DEVICE HAS MAJOR SHORT-TERM UTILITY AS A SUPPLY FOR PNEUMATIC ARTIFI- CIAL HEART IMPLANTS IN PATIENTS AWAITING HEART TRANSPLANTS. A NOVEL DESIGN FOR A WEARABLE AIR SUPPLY, DEVELOPED DURINGPHASE I, CONSISTS OF A ROTARY COMPRESSOR DRIVEN BY A BRUSH LESS DC MOTOR TO SUPPLY AIR TO THE VENTRICLE THROUGH AN ELECTROMAGNETICALLY ACTUATED DIRECTIONAL VALVE, ALL CONTROLLED BY A MICROCOMPUTER. AN EXPERIMENTAL UNIT HAS SUCCESSFULLY DRIVEN A SINGLE UTAH PNEUMATIC VENTRICLE ON A MOCK CIRCULA- TION. A 2-YEAR PROGRAM FOR PHASE II IS PLANNED. YEAR 1 WILL BE DE-VOTED TO COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT AND IN VITRO TESTS OF ENGIN EERING PROTOTYPES. DURING THE SECOND YEAR, ENDURANCE TESTS IN VITRO TESTS, AND IN VIVO TESTS IN CALVES WILL BE MADE.