Vietnamese doctor creates heart with parameters like human heart

Dr. Do Thanh Nho and colleagues at the University of New South Wales, Australia designed an artificial left ventricle heart , capable of simulating movement, blood pressure and flow like a real heart.

This heart can reproduce the parameters of a normal heart and a patient with heart disease (such as heart failure) . The research results were published in Science Robotics, the world's leading journal in the field of robotics. The research team also filed a patent for this technology.

Artificial heart technology aims to support doctors in diagnosing and treating patients who need heart valve transplants, people who need to use artificial heart pumps while waiting for a donor heart or after heart surgery.

Artificial left ventricle heart from the Medical Robotics Laboratory led by Dr. Do Thanh Nho, researched and manufactured. (Photo: Research team).

Sharing with reporters from Australia, Dr. Do Thanh Nho , 39 years old, Director of the Medical Robotics Laboratory, project manager, had the idea in 2021 when he worked at several hospitals in Sydney. At that time, clinical cardiologists were very concerned because many patients using artificial heart valves and pumps had complications after transplantation. They wanted an artificial heart similar to the patient's heart to allow for testing of transplantation and checking for complications or dangerous parameters before performing it on patients. This is the reason Dr. Nho started researching artificial hearts using the soft robot technology that his laboratory pioneered.

The team began the process of creating a left ventricle artificial heart by focusing on replicating the structure of the heart muscle. First, a real human heart was scanned, using 3D computer software to determine the angles of the muscle fibers in the inner, middle, and outer layers. Next, the team used previously developed artificial muscle fibers and arranged these muscle fibers precisely according to the shape and angle of the muscle fibers in the real heart. The choice of artificial muscle and multilayer structure allowed for the creation of a dense network of heart muscle that most closely resembled the natural heart.

The left ventricle is the heart's main and most complex pumping chamber. It functions in a unique way thanks to a continuous system of cardiac muscle fibers arranged in layers and at different angles. If the left ventricle can be replicated , it would be easy to create the right ventricle and the remaining atria.

The left ventricle of the heart with 3 layers of cardiac muscle, simulating a real human heart. (Photo: Research team).

According to the research team, the two most important mechanisms of an artificial heart are the ability to reproduce parameters related to mechanical properties, forces affecting the structure and function of the heart (biomechanics) , and parameters related to the dynamics of flow, blood pressure in the heart, and blood vessels (hemodynamics).

Initially, they struggled to replicate the multiple layers of heart muscle stacked on top of each other and arrange, machine, and control them to accurately replicate the human heart. After many failures, the team successfully designed and created a left ventricle of the heart with three layers of heart muscle including the epicardium, myocardium, and endocardium . Thanks to the structure that most closely resembles a real heart, the team was able to create three-dimensional biological movements, contractions, blood pressure, and flow that are most similar to the human heart.

"Until now, the world has not had an artificial heart capable of reproducing such parameters like the human heart. Currently, only a research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US has also developed artificial heart technology, but has not been able to successfully reproduce the parameters of the human heart," said Dr. Nho.

Associate Professor Dr. Phan Hoang Phuong, School of Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing, University of New South Wales said: " This is the world's first soft robotic heart capable of reproducing the biomechanics and hemodynamics of the human heart ."

The team is expanding the work and starting to incorporate more internal organs such as heart valves, aortas, ventricles, and papillary muscles. To test the feasibility of the new heart, the team used it to evaluate heart pump systems for people with heart failure and flexible catheters. The goal is to support minimally invasive endoscopic heart surgery for heart valve repair or other cardiovascular procedures. The results also predicted complications with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP). These are cardiovascular support devices used to increase blood flow and reduce the burden on the heart in cases of heart failure or after heart surgery.

The artificial heart in action. (Video: Research team).

Professor Nigel Lovell, Dean of the School of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Tyree IHealthE Institute for Health Technology, said the usefulness of the work lies in its ability to accurately reproduce the motion, blood pressure and blood flow of healthy people and people with heart disease. This provides clinically meaningful information for those developing new medical devices and early-stage surgical procedures, reducing their reliance on animal testing and the associated financial and ethical costs.

The device could be used as a tool to help clinicians assess the anticipated impact of cardiovascular interventions, such as valve or heart pump implants, before patients undergo surgery. It could also be used to study the mechanisms behind certain cardiovascular diseases and their treatments. 'This would be a revolution in cardiology ,' said Professor Nigel Lovell.

Dr. Do Thanh Nho. (Photo: NVCC).

Dr. Do Thanh Nho was born in Hiep Thanh commune, Go Dau district, Tay Ninh province, in a farming family. He is a former student of Quang Trung High School, Go Dau. In 2004, he studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and was selected for the Talented Engineer class, majoring in Manufacturing Engineering. In 2011, he received a full scholarship for the PhD program, majoring in surgical robots at the School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. Nho did postdoctoral research at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), USA. He joined the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia as a senior lecturer (Scientia) and founded the Medical Robotics Laboratory.

His main research interests include minimally invasive endoscopic robotics for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal cancers, 3D bioprinting, soft robotics, artificial muscles, smart fabrics, cardiac assistive devices, human enhancement and rehabilitation devices for the disabled, and emotional reproduction devices. He currently holds more than 10 international patents .