There is described an artificial heart comprising a pump, the pump comprising a housing (10) defining a substantially spherical cavity and comprising four vascular connectors (15.sub.in, 15.sub.out, 15.sub.in, 15.sub.out), namely two inlet connectors (15.sub.in, 15.sub.in) and two outlet connectors (15.sub.out, 15.sub.out) to connect the pump to the pulmonary and systemic circulation. A rotatable disc (11) is mounted within the housing (10) and secured to rotate about a fixed axis (12). Two oscillating palettes (16a, 16b) are mounted to rotate about a mobile axis (17) movable within a plane perpendicular to the fixed axis (12), wherein said palettes (16a, 16b) are connected together and are arranged on both sides of the rotatable disc (11), in a diametrically opposed fashion, to create two pumping units comprising each two variable sized chambers (20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) in fluid communication with one corresponding inlet and outlet connector respectively. The pump is provided with constrain means (21) configured to cause an oscillating movement of each oscillating palette (16a, 16b) relative to the rotatable disc (11), when the pump is operating, in order to produce simultaneously two suction strokes and two discharge strokes, so as to pump blood from the inlet connectors (15.sub.in, 15.sub.in) into one chamber (20a, 20c) of each pumping unit while expelling blood from the other chamber (20b, 20d) of each pumping unit through the outlet connectors (15.sub.out,15.sub.out). The pump further comprises a drive unit configured to operate the pump. According to the invention the drive unit is configured to produce a rotating magnetic field inside the pump housing (10).

A method of fixating an implantable heart help device in a human patient is provided. The method comprises the steps of: cutting the skin of said human patient, dissecting an area of the body comprising bone, and fixating said implantable heart help device to said part of the body comprising bone.

The invention relates to an artificial heart of human beings and other creatures with at least one half of a heart, to be implemented instead of or parallel to the natural heart, maintaining as a pump completely or partially as a support one circulatory system or two circulatory systems of the human being or other creature.

Within a hard and hermitically locked shell, two chambers are provided, one blood and one drive chamber. The drive chamber is cyclically filled and discharged by a pump actuated by electric motor. Due to the pressure and the suction of the drive chamber, the blood from the blood chamber is transported to the arteries and from the veins into the blood chamber. In the course of this process, blood and drive chamber only move to the half, in a completely unstressed manner without elastic stretching or kinking. Two innovative artificial check valves ensure that the blood flows exclusively in the desired direction.

A total artificial heart for a mammalian cardiovascular system is provided. The total artificial heart has a pump casing including an outer housing and an integral hollow support shaft extending therethrough. The casing defines a first flow path within the outer housing about an exterior of the hollow support shaft and a separate second flow path extending within the hollow support shaft. An annular impeller is housed within the outer housing of the casing for rotation about the hollow support shaft to provide a centrifugal flow pump in the first flow path, and an axial flow impeller is housed within the hollow support shaft of the casing for forming an axial flow pump in the second flow path.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to a method of fabricating an artificial heart muscle (AHM) patch. In some embodiments, the method includes obtaining and/or isolating cells from a subject. In some embodiments, the cells are primary cardiac cells. In some embodiments, the method further includes forming a scaffold. In some embodiments, the method includes seeding the cells in the fibrin gel scaffold. In some embodiments, the method includes culturing the cells seeded in the fibrin gel scaffold under conditions appropriate for the formation of an artificial heart muscle (AHM) patch.

A total artificial heart system includes: at least one artificial ventricle coupled to (or capable of being coupled to) a chamber or a vessel of a human heart, and at least one drive system coupled to the artificial ventricle, the drive system including at least one implanted electric motor. The drive system causes the artificial ventricle to contract and expand.

A total artificial heart system includes: at least one artificial ventricle coupled to (or capable of being coupled to) a chamber or a vessel of a human heart, and at least one drive system coupled to the artificial ventricle, the drive system including at least one implanted electric motor. The drive system causes the artificial ventricle to contract and expand.

A surgical method of treating a patient is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: cutting the patient's skin and abdominal wall; dissecting an area of the patient's intestine; and dissecting a portion of the dissected intestinal area such that intestinal mesentery connected thereto is opened in such a way that supply of blood through the mesentery to the dissected intestinal area is maintained as much as possible on both sides of the dissected portion. The method further comprises the steps of dividing the patient's intestine in the dissected portion so as to create an upstream part of the intestine with a first intestinal opening and a downstream part of the intestine with a second intestinal opening with the mesentery still maintaining a tissue connection between the upstream and downstream intestine parts.

An actuation system includes a virtual or computer-modeled portion that is coupled to a physical portion. The virtual portion is a computer model that models or otherwise simulates a function or action, such as a physiological function or action, including for example an action potential, a calcium transient, and/or a chemical reaction. The computer model may model or simulate a chemical action, a mechanical action (such as movement of a wing) or any other action. The virtual portion drives or controls one or more physical actuators, which can be sized on a microscopic scale, such as on a nanometer scale. The actuation system can be used as or part of an artificial anatomical structure or organ, such as an artificial heart.

An artificial heart for use in a human recipient includes a housing within which a quartet of turbine pump segments are operative. The quartet of turbine pump segments is configured to provide a pair of redundant input and output turbine pump segment pairs each input and output pair being coupled by a curved passage providing a redundancy which, in turn, enhances the safety factor provided by the artificial heart. Each turbine pump segment includes an impeller forwarded for rotation and having a plurality of impeller blades together with a static deswirler positioned within the impeller output flow to reduce the swirling turbulence of the blood flow induced by the rotating impeller.