Reference no: EM131917843

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Ventricular assist devices (VADs), which pump blood from the ventricles into the aorta, and heart transplants are two options used today to treat heart failure affecting 41 million people worldwide.

Nevertheless, patients are still at risk of blood clots and stroke. A team of researchers from Harvard and Boston Children's Hospital is conducting research using heart compressions delivered by a soft robotic sleeve as a new treatment option. It uses soft pneumatic actuators placed around the heart that twist and compress the heart in a motion similar to a beating heart.

Ellen T. Roche a former Ph.D. student at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National University of Ireland conducted the first research paper on this soft robot. Roche states that the research is proof that robots can safely interact with the soft tissue without contact with blood.

It reduces the risk of blood clotting which helps the heart to be more functional giving the patient a better quality of life. This may one day in the future be a bridge to heart transplant or assist in cardiac rehabilitation and recovery.

The robot can be customized to match each patient's individual needs. Its actuators can be tuned to provide more support in areas that may be weaker. Engineers from Harvard worked with surgeons from Boston Children's Hospital to identify the best methods of implanting and testing the device on animal models to further develop it.

Although more research needs to be done before the robot can be inserted in humans, the research is a crucial first step toward an implantable robot that can assist heart function. Hence patent rights have been filed by the Harvard Office of Development to secure commercialization.