ISRO's Rocket Technology To Power Human Hearts
The device which is akin to an artificial heart has been tested on half a dozen pigs. Cardiologists at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTMST) in Thiruvananthapuram surgically operated healthy pigs and replaced the functioning of the left ventricle of the pig with this special pump developed by ISRO.
The pig survived a full 6 hours, which was the full design of the experiment. No damage was reported to the blood as it was pumped by the device after it had bypassed the biological heart, even the other organs of the pig suffered no damage for the full duration of the experiment.
Scientists at SCTMST say “this remains a work in progress” and further experimentation will be done on animals before the device can be tried on humans. Wealthy Indian patients needing a heart transplant but unable to get the matching donors already import these devices and some of these left ventricular assist devices have already been installed on patients at some private hospitals and even at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Importing a heart pump device and then implanting it costs over a crore of rupees says cardiologists familiar with the technology, in contrast, scientists at VSSC say the device developed by them cost just Rs 1.25 lakh.
The rocket scientists say the cost differential is so large simply because the expertise and the materials already existed at VSSC and all they had to do was to assemble the right team of specialists that included metallurgists, electronics engineers, specialists on flow mechanics and designers who worked alongside cardiologists to come up with a suitable design.
It took a team of about two dozen specialists about six years and after many permutation and combination, they came up with the right design.
“It is a complicated device to make and this is an exciting development,” says Balram Bhargava, Professor of Cardiology, and Executive Director, Stanford India Biodesign Centre, School of International Biodesign, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi who confirms that no one in India has till date to the best of his knowledge designed indigenously a left ventricular assist device, adding that it is an important bridge for patients awaiting a heart transplant.
Bhargava cautions that the device is to be used only in very specific medical circumstances.
Interestingly VSSC has also very recently developed high value Lithium Ion battery which could now be used to power the heart pump.
India has all along been importing these Lithium ion cells but recently Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari mandated ISRO to master this technology so that it can be used to power zero pollution electric vehicles.
Sivan says VSSC will try to miniaturise these Lithium Ion cells which can hopefully power the left ventricular assist device.
