As a way to help the millions of patients with heart failure unable to receive a new heart, researchers and biomedical engineers from Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard University have developed a soft robotic sleeve to help the heart do its job.

A report published in Science Translational Medicine found that the soft robotic sleeve is a safe, effective alternative to ventricular assist devices (VAD). Currently, while VADs are able to assist the heart in pumping blood until a new heart arrives, VADs are foreign to the body and require patients to take medications that increase the risk of stroke by 20 percent.

"I've been implanting VADs in patients for a long time," said Frank Pigula, MD, who took part in the research at Boston Children's Hospital's Heart Center and chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at Norton Children's Hospital in Louisville, Ky. "The current generation systems directly expose a patient's blood to artificial materials such as tubing and rotors, which makes necessary the use of blood thinning and anticoagulatory medications that are complication-prone."

The soft robotic sleeve hugs the heart and twists and compresses the heart. Made out of biocompatible materials, the soft sleeve was proven to restore 97 percent of the heart's capabilities in pigs. Powered by the lungs, the sleeve uses air to fill pockets around itself to bend and pump through remote-controlled actuators. The ability of the sleeve to twist and squeeze like a healthy heart gives it an advantage over more invasive machines.

"The cardiac field had turned away from idea of developing heart compression instead of blood-pumping VADs due to technological limitations," said Pigula. "But now, with advancements in soft robotics, it's time to turn back. Most people with heart failure still have some function left. One day. the robotic sleeve may help their heart work well enough that quality of life can be restored."