Abstract
We have developed an intelligent sensorized artificial heart, Smart Artificial Heart, for safe and effective medical treatment to artificial heart patients. In order to easily achieve the sensing functions of the Smart Artificial Heart in existing artificial hearts without modification of the original hardware, the purpose of this study is to develop an integrated sensor unit (ISU) which is applicable to various artificial hearts by incorporation of the noninvasive sensor systems of the Smart Artificial Heart. By only attaching the ISU to the surface of the blood circulation tube between the patient's aorta and the artificial heart, we can noninvasively and continuously measure the following five data:blood temperature, blood flow, blood pressure, hematocrit (Hct), and arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2). We evaluated its measurement accuracy in mock circulatory experiments and an animal experiment, by comparison with commercial instruments. As a result, the measurement errors of the temperature, the flow, and the pressure were less than 0.4°C, less than 0.4 l/min, and less than 8 mm Hg, respectively. Then the measurement errors of the Hct and the SaO2 were less than 0.8 Hct% and less than 0.3 SaO2%, respectively. In conclusion, we confirmed that the ISU has performance to noninvasively and continuously monitor the conditions of artificial heart patients.
