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Patient Adaptive Control of Left Ventricular Assist Devices: Challenges and Opportunities
Dr. Marwan A. Simaan
Thursday, January 18, 2007
4:00 ~ 5:00PM Harris Center, Room 101, ENG III
Abstract
Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) are gaining increased use for treating patients with severe heart failure, providing them an opportunity to regain a normal quality of life, and in some cases recover from their disease. The latest generation of LVADs is based on turbo-dynamic (rotary-type) blood pumps which are much smaller, lighter, and quieter than the conventional pulsatile-type pumps. The unique features of these devices offer the promise of widespread use to treat thousands of heart transplant patients while awaiting a donor heart. An important engineering challenge for LVADs in general, and rotary LVADs in particular, is the requirement of a controller to mimic the natural response of the heart, and thereby meet the blood-flow demands of the body. Rotary LVADs also pose the risk of suction - a dangerous condition that occurs when the device attempts to draw more blood from the ventricle than available. Therefore, a vital component of feedback control is the detection of imminent suction, so that the LVAD can be slowed to avoid damage to the patient’s heart tissue. This problem has plagued developers for over 15 years, and is recognized as one of the most serious limitations of this technology. In this talk, we will present some recent results towards the development of a robust, patient-adaptive, feedback controller for rotary LVADs and we will discuss some of the unique engineering challenges and opportunities encountered as more and more emphasis is being placed on the use of these devices to enhance the function of the natural heart in patients with severe heart failure.
Short Bio
Marwan A. Simaan received the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1972. After two years of postdoctoral work and two years working in industry he joined the department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is currently the Bell of PA/Bell Atlantic Professor. For the past 35 years or so he has worked on a variety of research problems in the areas of optimization and control of complex systems, signal and image processing, telecommunication networks, and estimation. He has edited 4 books, published 100+ refereed papers in journals and book chapters, 170 papers in conference proceedings, and 24 industry technical reports He serves, or has served, on the editorial boards of several journals including the IEEE Proceedings, The IEEE Press, Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing, the Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications and many others. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a Fellow of IEEE, ASEE, and AAAS. In 1995 he received a distinguished alumnus award from the ECE department at the University of Illinois. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and serves as an EE and CoE program evaluator for ABET.
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