3D Printed Soft Artificial Heart

(ETH Zurich, July 13, 2017)

ETH researchers have developed a silicone heart that beats almost like a human heart. Currently used blood pumps have many disadvantages: their mechanical parts are susceptible to complications while the patient lacks a physiological pulse. The soft artificial heart was created from silicone, using a 3D-printing, lost-wax casting technique; it weighs 390 grams and has a volume of 679 cm3. This artificial heart has a right and a left ventricle, just like a real human heart. However, they are not separated by a septum but by an additional chamber. This chamber is in- and deflated by pressurized air and is required to pump fluid from the blood chambers, thus replacing the muscle contraction of the human heart. Currently, the artificial heart lasts for about 3,000 beats only, afterwards the material can no longer withstand the strain.