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A miniaturized endocardial electromagnetic energy harvester for leadless cardiac pacemakers

Life expectancy of contemporary cardiac pacemakers is limited due to the use of an internal primary battery. Repeated device replacement interventions are necessary, which leads to an elevated risk for patients and an increase of health care costs. The aim of our study is to investigate the feasibil...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Franzina, Nicolas, Zurbuchen, Adrian, Zumbrunnen, Andreas, Niederhauser, Thomas, Reichlin, Tobias, Burger, Juergen, Haeberlin, Andreas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7521684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32986751
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239667
Descripción
Sumario:Life expectancy of contemporary cardiac pacemakers is limited due to the use of an internal primary battery. Repeated device replacement interventions are necessary, which leads to an elevated risk for patients and an increase of health care costs. The aim of our study is to investigate the feasibility of powering an endocardial pacemaker by converting a minimal amount of the heart’s kinetic energy into electric energy. The intrinsic cardiac muscle activity makes it an ideal candidate as continuous source of energy for endocardial pacemakers. For this reason, we developed a prototype able to generate enough power to supply a pacing circuit at different heart rates. The prototype consists of a mass imbalance that drives an electromagnetic generator while oscillating. We developed a mathematical model to estimate the amount of energy harvested from the right ventricle. Finally, the implemented prototype was successfully tested during in-vitro and in-vivo experiments.