Virtual artificial heart implantation project earns tech competition award
The innovative concept that won ASU bioengineering doctoral student Justin Ryan a top award in an international biomedical technology competition is illustrated by a 3-D rendering of a human anatomical reconstruction with an artificial heart device implanted. Photo: Justin Ryan
Posted April 29, 2013
Arizona State University doctoral student Justin Ryan has won a first-place award in a prominent international biomedical research competition by developing a new application for virtual anatomical reconstruction technology.
Ryan is pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
He earned the top prize in the Cardiovascular Applications category of the Mimics Innovation Awards competition for his project titled “Virtual Total Artificial Heart Implantation for Improved Device Eligibility Criteria.”
The application would benefit people in need of heart transplants while waiting for donorsin cases in which “an artificial heart can bridge the time gap between complete heart failure and transplantation,” Ryan says.
Current artificial heart devices are designed for adults, but recent cases have demonstrated their successful use in children. Using the latest in anatomical reconstruction software, and with aid from physicians, Ryan was able to virtually implant the adult artificial heart device into a structural model of a teen-aged patient.
Depicting the implantation virtually gives surgeons a precise guide for performing actual heart transplants.
See an illustration that provides details about Ryan’s new application.
The project stems from his work as part of the research team led by David Frakes, an assistant professor of biomedical and electrical engineering at ASU. The team is developing individualized, highly detailed three-dimensional physical models of hearts to guide planning for cardiovascular surgery.
Justin Ryan works with an ASU research team that is developing individualized 3-D models to help medical professions do more effective planning for cardiovascular surgeries. Photo: Daniel Friedman/Raising Arizona Kids Magazine
Ryan has helped set up a process to produce custom-made heart models using three-dimensional printing technology at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
The Mimics competition is sponsored by Materialise, a company based in Belgium that is a leader in the fields of software development and advanced three-dimensional printing technology used in prototyping.
The winners of first-place 2013 Mimics Innovation Awards in other categories of the competition include students from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois, Affiliated Hospital of Guangshou Medical College in China, Ghent University Hospital in Belgium, and the Biomechanics Research Centre of the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Media Contact:
Joe Kullman, [email protected]
(480) 965-8122
Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
