Using magnetic cameras, researchers at Linkoping University have examined blood flow in an artificial heart in real time. The results make it possible to design the heart in a way to reduce the risk of blood clots and red blood cells breakdown, a common problem in today’s artificial hearts. The study, published in Scientific Reports, was done in collaboration with the company Scandinavian Real Heart AB, which is developing an artificial heart.
Most of the patients whose heart does not work at all are currently connected to a machine that takes care of their blood circulation for them. It is a large device, and the patient is confined to their hospital bed. For those patients, an artificial heart could be an option while waiting for a donor heart.
Finding a biologically compatible heart for a transplant can take a long time. In those cases, an artificial heart can enable the patient to wait at home. They may not be running around like Usain Bolt, but patients can be with their loved ones during the waiting period,” says Twan Bakker, PhD student at the Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization, CMIV, at LiU.
For this to happen, the technology needs refining. Blood clots and damaged red blood cells are common problems in artificial hearts with pulsating function. This is often due to areas of high and low blood speed being close to each other, or areas where the blood is stationary in the heart. High speed and turbulence can lead to the destruction of red blood cells, i.e., hemolysis, whereas low speed increases the risk of blood clots.
The total artificial hearts connected to an MRI-compatible mock circulatory loop allowed variable physiological conditions (i.e., heart rate 80, 105, 120 bpm) and was scanned with two different velocity encodings.
Flow patterns and turbulent kinetic energy were measured with high accuracy in a short measurement time and analyzed. Stasis and viscous energy loss in the artificial heart were found to be similar to healthy native hearts. Elevated turbulent kinetic energy was found in several areas, but values were well below those found in patients with valvular disease.
Hence, the authors concluded that using 4D flow MRI in combination with 3D printing can facilitate assessment of flow dynamics in TAHs and enable a rapid iterative design process.
Ref: Bakker, T., Najar, A., Finocchiaro, T. et al. 4D flow MRI enhances prototype testing of a total artificial heart. Sci Rep 15, 32533 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-18422-y
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