Our Project
Every year in Switzerland alone, 200 newborns require surgery for a congenital heart defect. In these cases, a heart-lung machine (HLM) is used to maintain blood flow and oxygen supply during surgery. Because of the difference in brain plasticity between adults and infants, the blood flow characteristics of the neonatal brain are a current research topic. For that reason, the optimal calibration of the heart-lung machine is still unknown.
As a result, many of the young patients suffer from long-term neurological damage and lifelong trauma.
MRI can be used to image the brain and its activity during surgery. Therefore, the ability to use MRI while using an HLM can likely minimize the number of long-term sequelae after open-heart surgery by finding optimal or at least more appropriate perfusion settings for the HLM.
Unfortunately, commercially available HLMs are largely made of ferromagnetic metal and use electromagnetic motors and are consequently not suitable for use in an MRI.
Our goal is therefore to develop a heart-lung machine that is MRI safe and can thus be used in combination with MRI to find optimal perfusion settings.
Background
ABout US
„byPulse“ is a focus project at ETH Zurich in collaboration with pd|z. We are a group of eight students from the departments of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. With our skills and knowledge as well as the expertise of leading cardiac surgeons from the USZ and engineers from the pd|z, we are committed to the development of a fully functional MRI-conditional heart-lung machine for pediatric applications.
The Team
Andres Helnwein
System and Testing Engineer
Christian Valmaggia
Electronic Engineer
Jakob Siemer
Flow Process Engineer
Angela Telli
System and Testing Engineer
Eric Brändli
System Control and Software Engineer
Jasper Hüchting
Flow Process Engineer
Chelsy Hochstrasser
System Control and Software Engineer
Jakob Koch
Drivetrain Engineer
Partners
AVASIS
avasis ist ein Dienstleistungsuntenehmen, welches sich in den letzten Jahren als führender Anbieter für die Digitalisierung bei Klein-, Mittel- und Grossunternehmen mit Lösungen etabliert hat. Als Partner und Technologielieferant geniesst die avasis bei ihren Kunden einen hervorragenden Ruf. Höchst motivierte und bestens qualifizierte Mitarbeitende treiben den Erfolg des Unternehmens seit über 20 Jahren voran. avasis hat sich über Jahre ein umfassendes Know How in der Beratung, Implementierung und Unterstützung der Siemens Software Lösungen Teamcenter und Polarion sowie der CAD/CAM/CAE Anwendung NX erarbeitet. Das tiefgehende Branchenveständnis sowie die langjährige Erfahrung bei den Herausforderungen der Mechatronik bilden die Basis für optimale PLM Lösungen in Klein-, Mittel- und Grossbetrieben.