A framework for studies of physiological control systems applied to ventricular assist devices

Abstract

Ventricular assist devices are mechanical pumps used as support to patients with heart failure. These devices are a great object of research in the biomedical engineering field, with focus on physiological control systems in order to improve the performance of these devices. Researchers at the Universidade Federal de Alagoas have investigated several control strategies applied to them for years. In these previous investigations, a left heart numerical model was successfully used to perform control simulations. However, in order to have even more accurate results, a more complex model is necessary. This work develops a human cardiovascular system model framework that considers both sides of the heart and other hemodynamical variables. This framework allows a ventricular assist device to be coupled to it and controlled. As a proof of concept, the entire numerical model was simulated using a script in MATLAB® and performed well with a Starling-like controller, which is a control technique that uses variables from the developed model, such as the pump flow and the left-ventricular end-diastolic pressure. The simulations reached the expected results and the open source code of this framework is available to download.