According to the American Heart Association, there are currently 5 million
Americans diagnosed with congestive heart failure and that number is steadily increasing
(AHA, 2003). The alarming problem of congestive heart failure and other related
medical complications has created a need for devices that not only assist the heart but
also help the heart to grow and remodel back to its normal configuration. Currently,
there are several direct cardiac compression devices (DCCDs) that do assist the heart,
however, they do not help the heart to grow and remodel correctly. Dr. John C.
Criscione of Texas A&M University has proposed a novel DCCD, in which the
compression of the device reinforces the natural curvature of the heart, helping it to grow
and remodel correctly. It is hypothesized that with the support of the device, the cells of
the heart will be stimulated to grow and remodel back to their normal size and return to
their proper function. Two key components necessary to the novel DCCD were designed
and constructed for this study. The first component was an adjustable outer shell which
enabled the device to become smaller as the failing heart returned to normal size. The
second component was an inflatable inner membrane that applies direct pressure to the
outer wall of the heart in a way that promotes physiological stress and strain patterns.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1001 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Harrison, Jr., Lewis D. |
| Contributors | John C. Criscione |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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