MyoCardiaX

What it does

The MyoCardiaX is a 3D-printed, magnetically levitated pediatric ventricular assist device (VAD) that restores life-sustaining blood flow while minimizing shear stress. This is the first device of its kind, as there is no VAD available for children.

Your inspiration

After working with children in the hospital and various charities, I came to learn that there is no device available to improve a child’s heart function. Many newborns are treated with a bulky and expensive ECMO because a ventricular assist device is not available for a “child-sized” heart. It was shocking to hear that many children do not have a reasonable solution until a heart transplant arrives. After developing many prototypes, the MyoCardiaX was created to bridge that gap to handle the intricacies of a smaller heart. This device is also customizable to meet the flow requirements of various heart geometries since every heart is unique.

How it works

The MyoCardiaX sits where the child’s under-developed ventricle normally pumps. Blood enters through a short inflow cannula and meets a five-blade impeller that is levitated by opposing ring magnets—so nothing ever touches or grinds. This setup is embedded in the 3D-printed wall which turns the impeller through magnetic coupling, drawing just 2–3 W. Pressure and flow sensors in the outflow graft feed a microcontroller that automatically adjusts speed (3000–6000 rpm) to match the baby’s changing circulation, much like cruise control on a car. Because the impeller levitates, shear forces remain below 10 Pa, thereby reducing damage to blood cells and the risk of blood clot formation. Every surface is biocompatible, and the CAD files scale in minutes, letting surgeons generate a custom pump shell that mirrors each child’s heart geometry. The result is a patient-specific bridge-to-transplant that restores life-sustaining flow where no standard VAD can fit.

Design process

Drawing on my background in biotransport phenomena and 3D-printing, I set out to create a ventricular assist device small enough for newborns with Congenital Heart Defects, beginning with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. I began by translating hemodynamic targets into CAD designs that confirmed a pump that could nest safely within an infant's thorax. A parametric CAD library was then scripted so that the shell, cannula angles, and flow path could be resized automatically to match any CT scan in minutes. Early SLA-printed prototypes run in a glycerol-water loop revealed leaks and overheating pivots; replacing the pivots with opposing neodymium ring magnets eliminated contact and reduced hemolysis. Embedding a magnetically levitated setup, Hall sensors, and a microcontroller in a biocompatible resin added closed-loop "cruise control," retuning RPM every 20 ms to match changing preload and afterload. Multiple print-test-refine cycles have yielded the current prototype, which is now undergoing studies on platelet activation, accelerated fatigue, and biocompatibility. Continuous feedback from pediatric and transplant cardiologists has steered each revision, turning a laboratory investigation into a manufacturable, patient-specific bridge-to-transplant.

How it is different

Unlike existing pediatric heart-support options—which are either bulky paracorporeal pumps tethered by tubing or scaled-down adult LVADs—MyoCardiaX is the first fully implantable, patient-specific VAD that can be printed in a single day. Its shell and cannula angles resize automatically to each infant’s CT scan, creating a perfect anatomical fit. Magnetic levitation replaces mechanical pivots, eliminating the bearing washout and high shear that drive clotting in miniature pumps. Because every surface is 3D-printed in biocompatible resin, the material cost is an order of magnitude cheaper. The MyoCardiaX sensors are over-molded in a medical-grade elastomer, so electronics stay outside the bloodstream, reducing the risk of infection and enabling true contact-free flow. In short, MyoCardiaX combines custom geometry, frictionless suspension, and low-cost additive manufacturing to deliver life-saving support where no standard VAD can fit.

Future plans

Within the next six months, I will validate shear-induced platelet activation in a closed-loop bovine-blood circuit, calibrate my Platelet Activation Index model, continue to test the magnetically levitated impeller that currently runs 3000 – 6000 rpm without mechanical contact, and continue to develop a CT-to-print workflow that generates three patient-specific VAD geometries for infants with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a type of congenital defect. These steps will further validate and provide the experimental evidence and digital infrastructure necessary to move the MyoCardiaX closer to helping the lives of many pediatric patients.

Awards

The MyoCardiaX received a six month research grant award from the Florida State University Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases to continue this project.