Scientists have developed a 3D-printed soft silicone heart that closely resembles and functions like the human organ, and could help save lives of people who suffer from cardiac failure.
About 26 million people worldwide suffer from heart failure. The soft artificial heart weighs 390 grams and has a volume of 679 cubic centimetres. “It is a silicone monoblock with complex inner structure,” said Nicholas Cohrs, a doctoral student ETH Zurich in Switzerland.
The artificial heart has a right and a left ventricle, though they are not separated by a septum but by an additional chamber.
This chamber is inflated and deflated by pressurised air and is required to pump fluid from the blood chambers.
