Press
Release
$2.8 Million Grant Renewed for
Development
of “Pulse-less” Total Artificial Heart
1st Continuous Flow Total Artificial Heart Uses Two MicroMed Ventricular Assist Devices
The pump for the HeartAssist 5™ ventricular assist
device (VAD)
HOUSTON – Aug. 6, 2009 – A $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a “pulse-less” total artificial heart using two MicroMed ventricular assist devices (VADs) initially created by Drs. Michael DeBakey and George Noon has been renewed for a second year of research.
“Two years ago, I went to Dr. DeBakey to discuss using two continuous flow VADs to create a total artificial heart,” said principal investigator Bud Frazier, M.D., chief of Cardiopulmonary Transplantation, chief of the Center for Cardiac Support and director of Surgical Research at the Texas Heart Institute. “We wanted to work with a local company and MicroMed’s VAD was ideal because of its miniature size. Dr. DeBakey said he was surprised he hadn’t thought of the idea himself.”
Dr. Frazier’s Total Artificial Heart uses two MicroMed HeartAssist 5™ VADs. One VAD circulates blood throughout the body and the other circulates blood to and from the lungs.
“Over the last year, under Dr. Frazier’s leadership and direction, we focused on anatomical fitting, atrial cuff configuration and the experimental protocol to get repeatable and reliable results,” said Robert Benkowski, Chief Operating Officer for MicroMed Cardiovascular. “Our goals are to continue development of a ground-breaking algorithm for balancing the left and right pumps, to design an integrated controller that can run both pumps and to evaluate which physiologic sensors are necessary for the controller.”
The grant was originally awarded in June 2008 under the NIH Bioengineering Research Partnership, a special program to encourage collaboration among medical, academic and engineering experts. The Total Artificial Heart project is a joint effort by Texas Heart Institute, University of Houston, Rice University and MicroMed Cardiovascular.
The project described was supported by Grant Number R01HL085054 awarded to Texas Heart Institute (THI) by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NHLBI or the National Institutes of Health.
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The HeartAssist 5 pump weighs only 92 grams and measures just 2.8 x 1.2 inches. Because of its miniature size, it is one of the few LVADs that can be implanted above the diaphragm, adjacent to the heart. The HeartAssist 5 is the only LVAD with a precise, direct flow measurement system.
In Europe, the DeBakey VAD® has CE Marks for both adult and pediatric use. In the U.S., the DeBakey VAD® Child is the only FDA-approved pediatric VAD. An IDE clinical study is currently underway in the U.S. for adults.
Media Contact:
Don
Isaacs
Director of Communications
MicroMed
Cardiovascular
Cell: (520) 955-0660
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