Originally Published EMDM January 2006
Industry News
Modified Fluid Dynamics System Aims to Improve Heart Devices
A team of European researchers has adapted a technology used in aerodynamics to measure blood flow. Coordinated by D’Appolonia S.p.A. (Genoa, Italy), an engineering consulting firm, the Smart-PIV project aims to “revolutionize heart treatments,” according to project coordinator Fabrizio Lagasco.
Particle image velocimetry (PIV) systems have many engineering applications, from analyzing waves caused by landslides to measuring airflow over aircraft wings. As part of the Smart-PIV project, LaVision (Göttingen, Germany), a builder of laser imaging systems, optimized a PIV system so that it could measure the effects of medical implants on blood flow. “The system used for the project was a modified version of our standard PIV system, which is used for aerodynamics, combustion engines, water flows, microchannel flows, and other flow applications,” states LaVision senior scientist Bernd Wieneke.
By using the optimized PIV system, medical manufacturers will be able to improve the design of devices such as heart valves and pumps. The system will also provide doctors with a way to detect—and ultimately correct—the side effects that commonly afflict patients who receive implants.
Minor to potentially fatal complications are widespread among patients who receive implants either as a long-term or temporary solution. While ultrasound scans allow doctors to view potential problems with the heart and circulatory system, the scans cannot provide detailed analysis of blood-flow-related problems when an implant is present. There is particular interest in reducing the side effects caused by ventricular-assist devices (VADs), battery-operated pumps that support a failing left ventricle and help supply blood to the rest of the body. VADs are primarily used to buy patients time until a heart donor can be found. Currently, these devices extend a patient’s life by up to two years and frequently just a few months.
At the core of the Smart-PIV system is miniaturized optical sensor technology using ultrathin laser light sheets to capture images of the fluid dynamics of blood flowing through implanted devices. Numerical analysis is carried out on the images in a parallel computing subsystem, allowing device designers or doctors to detect problems with the blood flow, such as high-velocity gradients that can cause blood cell damage, or low velocity that could lead to thrombosis or coagulation. Trial results indicate that by employing parallel computing, the analysis can be performed in under a day in 80% of cases and in less than two days in all cases.
“As computer processing power increases, we estimate that within two years, the analysis could probably be performed in two to three hours,” says Lagasco. “That compares with the weeks or months it can take to obtain results from using traditional PIV systems.”
Having tested the system in vitro during the project, the partners are planning to develop and evaluate it further in trials involving a medical device manufacturer. “We’re currently in talks with Sorin, a multinational producer of heart valves, and with an Italian SME that is looking to use SMART-PIV to optimize the design of its VADs,” Lagasco says. “The commercial possibilities for the system are extensive, and a product based on the project results will probably be in use within the next few years.”
For more information, contact D’Appolonia S.p.A., Via San Nazaro 19, 16145 Genoa, Italy; phone: +39 010 3628148; fax: +39 010 3621078; e-mail: info@dappolonia.it; Internet: www.dappolonia.it.
Copyright ©2006 European Medical Device Manufacturer
