SensorART: A remote controlled Sensorized ARTificial heart enabling patients empowerment and new therapy approaches

SensorART aims at sensorizing Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs), in order to turn VADs from mechanical devices into intelligent systems allowing patients suffering from heart failure to conduct normal lives and help healthcare professionals to monitor patient status remotely and in real-time. In this way, VADs could adjust autonomously to the patients' physical needs and monitor his/her status. Most importantly, intelligent VAD systems could be used not only as a bridge to transplant, but also as destination therapy, and in a futurist vision as transient therapeutic tools for heart recovery. Current treatment of heart failure consists of ventricular assist devices (VADs), mechanical pumps implanted in the patient's body used to restore blood circulation. At present, however, VADs are used mainly to bridge heart transplantation. In practice this means that in patients with implanted sensorised artificial heart, the device is linked wirelessly to an external control unit, which is applied to the waist by means of a belt. The artificial heart is powered wirelessly by an innovative system for energy transfer via the skin. image Thanks to different assembled sensors, as well as to special algorithms, the control unit can monitor the patient's physiological conditions and optimise support from the pump. In this way, the empowered patient can lead a normal life. Moreover, via wireless Internet communication, the control unit allows doctors to monitor the patient's status in real-time and remotely, and to take immediate action when required.