Exercise physiology with a Ventricular Assist Device

Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are a valuable option for the treatment of end stage heart failure patients. VAD patients show a stable hemodynamic at rest but their exercise capacity is strongly limited. Aim of this project is to develop an 'in vivo' ovine model to study the hemodynamic interaction between the VAD and the native ventricle during exercise. In addition an 'in vitro' cardiorespiratory simulator will be implemented to reproduce the pathophysiology of exercise observed on the animals. The two models will provide a basic understanding of the complex VAD-heart interaction at rest and at exercise. They will be used to test and develop VAD speed controllers aimed at modulating VAD flow according to body needs. We expect this project to improve VAD in the direction of a “smart” device physiologically responding to daily hemodynamic changes, and to improve patients’ exercise capacity in the nearly future.

Keywords:Exercise physiology, Ventricular assist device, Cardiovascular modeling

Disciplines:Cardiac and vascular medicine, Orthopaedics, Surgery, Nursing