Innovative Materials for Artificial Heart Prosthesis

Heart disease is one of the most devastating illnesses and an important social problem Wordwide with the highest death index. Despite significant advances in the development of artificial heart substitutes, anthrombogenic materials and surfaces remain to be the main challenge for implants, which can prevent thrombosis which leads to rejection. The goal of material engineering is essentially to design polymeric materials of high durability and optimal thrombogenicity in mechanical heart prosthesis, being developed recently in a frame of the Polish Artificial Heart program. New polymeric materials can meet medical word’s attention only if they are able to provide similar or better characteristics in term of bulk and surface properties as compared to “gold standard” polyurethane elastomer (PU). Specifically, if they will show appropriate surface topography which is the most influential in determining the response of live tissues towards biomaterials. Nanostructured polyester thermoplastic elastomers of high bio-durability as an alternative to PU materials for artificial heart are challenging new materials and they will be discussed. 

Acknowledgements: Financial support by research grant N N507 319440 is acknowledged.