Design, manufacturing and testing of a left-heart simulator based on a passively beating porcine heart and compatible with ViVitro's Pulse Duplicator system

ViVitro Labs Inc.寻求加强他们的研究/开发心血管测试产品系列，以利用脉冲复制器中的脉动泵和数据采集系统，同时允许用户对整个离体猪心脏进行实验。在这种应用中，不跳动的心脏将简单地在屠宰场收获，并由外部泵送系统驱动脉动流。对于对人工瓣膜不太感兴趣的用户来说，离体猪心脏将使在主动脉瓣和二尖瓣上测试医疗设备和外科手术成为可能，并且具有良好的解剖保真度。

ViVitro Labs Inc. seeks to enhance their line of research/development cardiovascular testing products to take advantage of the pulsatile pump and data acquisition systems found in their Pulse Duplicator while allowing the user to experiment on whole ex-vivo pig hearts. In such applications, the non-beating hearts would be simply harvested at a slaughterhouse and the pulsatile flow driven by the external pumping system. For users not primarily interested in prosthetic valves, ex-vivo pig hearts will make it possible to test medical devices and surgical procedures on the aortic and mitral valves with excellent anatomical fidelity. The objectives of the proposed project are to (iteratively) design, manufacture, test and prove the effectiveness of new mechanical components compatible with existing components of ViVitro's Pulse Duplicator system to achieve quick and reliable set-up of experiments on ex-vivo pig hearts. The applicant's Cardiovascular Mechanics Laboratory (CML) at the University of Ottawa secured the acquisition of one ViVitro Pulse Duplicator back in 2006, thanks to an NSERC RTI grant. Over the years, the applicant and his team have used the system in its original version, as well as after significant in-house modifications to enable testing of whole porcine aortic roots and valves. ViVitro's Pulse Duplicator has provided the experimental benchmark necessary for the CML to develop and validate several numerical models of the aortic valve, with increasing levels of complexity, accuracy and clinical relevance. Very opportunely, the CML is at a research point where it needs the very type of system that ViVitro wants to develop. By expanding the range of applicability of ViVitro's equipment, the proposed project will help ViVitro Labs Inc. acquire new market shares and bolster its position as a global leader. This will favourably impact Canada's economy and image as a technology driver.