MELBOURNE, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Australian engineers are developing a breakthrough heart pump to transform care for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a condition that accounts for roughly half of the 64 million heart failure cases globally.
New research suggests that a reimagined heart pump could offer hope for patients suffering from HFpEF, a form of heart failure that currently has no effective treatment options beyond medication or palliative care, according to a news release of Australia's Monash University on Tuesday.
"Most of these patients have a heart that's stiff, with thickened walls and a smaller ventricle. This means standard ventricular assist devices don't fit well, and can even cause harm," said the study's lead-author, Monash PhD candidate Nina Langer, who investigated how existing heart pumps could be adapted for HFpEF patients.
The study proposes an innovative heart pump design that could address the unique challenges of HFpEF by improving blood flow and alleviating the strain on the heart, the release said.
The device could provide a bridge to transplant to keep patients alive while they wait for a donor heart, or even serve as a long-term solution for those without other options, according to the study published in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.
These findings are contributing to the development of the first mechanical circulatory support device for HFpEF patients, which is now being developed by the Monash-led Artificial Heart Frontiers Program (AHFP), it said.
AHFP co-director, Monash Professor Shaun Gregory, said this new study "captures the unmet need for novel, targeted mechanical circulatory support for the largest cohort of patients with heart failure," and points to a clearer device development pathway. Enditem
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