When the problem of heart transplant shortages became clear to him, Timms – still a student at the time – started working on a prototype using 3D printing and plumbing equipment. It’s also hoped that the device can one day be combined with wireless charging technology, meaning that the battery could also be implanted into the patient, instead of carried externally.īiVACOR is the brainchild of Dr Daniel Timms, who began developing artificial hearts when his father Gary, a plumber, suffered a heart attack in 2001. The lack of other moving parts means the rest of the heart can be made from ultra-robust titanium.Īs well as its state-of-the-art levitating disc technology, the BiVACOR heart can adapt its output to the physiological demands of the patient (so it’ll pump faster during exercise) and can be made small enough to fit into a child. With the high-tech rotary pump levitating between magnets, there’s virtually zero mechanical wear. Instead of trying to replicate the way a real heart pumps, the device uses a single spinning disc to drive blood to the lungs and body. Injectable hydrogel could help to repair damage following heart attacksīut a completely new design, known as BiVACOR, could revolutionise the use of artificial hearts and the way heart failure is treated.Artificial intelligence could create heart attack early warning system.
Patients have to wear cumbersome power boxes at all times, and wiring runs in and out of their chests, leading to infections. The few artificial hearts that have been approved for human use are currently only ever used as a last resort, to buy a patient time before a real transplant.
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