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via medGadget - Artificial Heart Inspired by a Cockroach and built like an Onion & The Telegraph -  An Indian artificial heart.

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Finally, there could be an artificial heart with a Made-in-India tag. Nearly 40 years after the West invented a crude, pneumatic-powered device that could pump blood quite like a normal heart, Indian biomedical engineers are trying something similar, but one which is more efficient and reliable. The artificial heart, or biventricular pump as its inventor Sujoy K. Guha of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITK), calls it, consists of two identical artificial ventricular pumps, made of a series of interconnected diaphragm chambers. A battery-driven motor controls the compression and expansion of the chambers.

The device, which was the main draw at a recently concluded event — called IndAc 2008, that showcased new technologies developed at IITK — draws inspiration from the heart of a cockroach which has a fail-safe mechanism. A cockroach’s heart has as many as 13 chambers, unlike the four in a human heart. As a result, failure of a single chamber in the former does not become life threatening unlike in the latter, says Guha. Moreover, the pumping of blood in a cockroach’s heart happens in a staged manner, which reduces the build up of pressure, often experienced in the human heart.

“The inventiveness of our work lies in recognising the merits of the cockroach’s heart and adapting them to the needs of the human system,” said Guha. Guha’s team, which has already tested the device on frogs, has recently sought permission to test it on goats. A patent application has also been filed for it. “The technology is ready for clinical trials,” said Guha. “A series of diaphragms divides the load of the pump, thereby increasing its longevity,” he added. The internal flow is designed to prevent excessive blood recirculation, stagnation and mechanical trauma. An obvious advantage of such a device would be to lower the need for heart transplants. “With increased understanding of the heart’s functioning and continuing improvements in prosthetics, computer science, battery technology and fuel cells, a practical artificial heart may be a reality in the 21st century,” said Guha.

Read more here & here.

Way to go IIT-K

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