A new test circulatory system for research in cardiovascular engineering.

A new test circulatory system (TCS) has been developed for the in vitro testing of artificial hearts (AH) and for research in cardiovascular engineering, when connected to an AH that mimics the natural heart. The TCS is controlled by five variables whereby the slopes of the systemic and pulmonary venous return curves and the mean circulatory pressure can be fixed. It allows us to observe the mutual influence between TCS and AH characteristics and particularly the blood volume distribution, the pressure distribution, and the flowrates in steady-state conditions and (in the near future) also in dynamic conditions. A steady-state mathematical analysis describing the TCS is reported. Numerical results for the human circulatory system at different levels of activity and in physiologic conditions are shown. A first prototype of the TCS has been working for more than one year. The experimental results are in agreement with the mathematical analysis.