Soft artificial heart completes initial trials in Swiss project

Researchers from the Functional Materials Laboratory at ETH Zurich have developed an artificial heart that closely imitates a human heart.

The heart, which is made from silicone and resembles a human heart in size and shape, gave mixed results in its laboratory trials: while it pumps fluid effectively and moves like a natural heart, the material from which it was made could not stand up to the strain of operation for a long period.

The heart is the result of a project led by Prof Wendelin Stark of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). While mechanical hearts and cardiac assistance device have existed for some time, and are used as a stopgap while the patients waits for a heart transplant, currently in around 5000 people every year, they can cause problems such as blood cell damage leading to clotting; their components are vulnerable to failure; and they leave the user without a physiological pulse, which may have health consequences. The team hopes that a soft heart, which more closely mimics the function of the natural organ, will be a better option.