Newswise — The August 2003 issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine reports on the AbioCor, the first completely self-contained artificial heart.
The AbioCor is a hydraulically driven pump that doctors connect directly to a patient's atria. A gear inside the device spins at 10,000 revolutions per minute to create pressure. An active controller adjusts and regulates blood flow to the lungs, according to Mechanical Engineering, a publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME International).
With the AbioCor, doctors do not have to run wires through an opening in the patient's body to connect to a battery pack. Instead, says Mechanical Engineering, the device uses an energy transfer system that sends electricity from an external battery pack to a radio frequency converter implanted on the abdomen, which transfers the energy to another radio frequency inside the body. This device receives the energy and sends it to the internal battery and controller of the mechanical heart.
A primary advantage of the AbioCor, according to its developer, AbioMed (Danvers, Mass.), is the system does not pierce the patient's skin, providing no pathway for infection to enter the body. However, thrombosis, the forming of blood clots, is a major concern for recipients of the AbioCor.
The AbioCor is currently in clinical trials. The goal of AbioMed is to refine the AbioCor so that the artificial heart is mechanically sound for five years, which officials say is the current life expectancy of a transplanted natural heart.
For further information about Mechanical Engineering, or to access the article "A Whole New Heart," visit the ASME Web site, http://www.asme.org.
ASME International is a 120,000-member organization focused on technical, educational and research issues. ASME conducts one of the world's largest technical publishing operations, holds numerous technical conferences worldwide, and offers hundreds of professional development courses each year. ASME sets internationally recognized industrial and manufacturing codes and standards that enhance public welfare and safety.
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