Silicone heart developed to function like human heart

A team of researchers from ETH Zurich has developed a silicone heart that closely resembles a human heart.

By using 3D-printing, the team developed the first entirely soft artificial heart which imitates the human heart. The device was created by doctoral student Nicholas Cohrs in a group led by Wendelin Stark, professor of functional materials engineering at ETH Zurich.  

The close resemblance to a human heart is important, as mechanical parts in blood pumps are susceptible to complications if the patient lacks a physiological pulse.

The heart was developed using a 3D printing, lost-wax casting technique and it includes a right and left ventricle. Unlike a human heart, the two ventricles aren’t separated by a septum. Instead, an additional chamber is used which pumps fluid from the chambers by using pressurised air.

In 2015 17.7 million people were estimated to have died from cardiovascular diseases and there is also a shortage of donor hearts. Artificial hearts can extend a patient’s life until a donor heart becomes available, or their own heart recovers.

Whilst the silicone heart works in a similar way to a human heart it has a fundamental problem; it only lasts for around 45 minutes, or 3,000 beats, until the material starts to break apart.

Cohrs explained: “This was simply a feasibility test. Our goal was not to present a heart ready for implantation, but to think about a new direction for the development of artificial hearts.”

Anastasios Petrou, a doctoral student of the Product Development Group Zurich evaluated the performance of the heart.

“As a mechanical engineer, I would never have thought that I would ever hold a soft heart in my hands. I’m now so fascinated by this research that I would very much like to continue working on the development of artificial hearts.” Petrou said.