News Release

Cardiovascular Innovation Institute researchers receive over $2 million grant from NIH

Grant and Award Announcement

University of Louisville

Louisville, Ky. – Researchers in the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, a partnership between the University of Louisville and Jewish Hospital, in collaboration with researchers at Indiana University and Purdue University, have received a $2,027,059 grant from the National Institutes of Health to further develop an implantable pump that could dramatically improve the lives of patients with single ventricle heart disease. Single ventricle heart disease is a congenital condition in which one chamber of the heart is either missing or underdeveloped, causing an overwhelming burden on the remaining chamber to pump blood effectively.

The project is led by UofL biomedical engineer Guruprasad Giridharan, PhD, Indiana University pediatric surgeon Mark Rodefeld, MD, and Purdue University mechanical engineer Steve Frankel, PhD. It represents a collaboration between biomedical engineers in the Department of Bioengineering at UofL, who are based at the CII, and UofL's Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

"Single ventricle heart disease is the leading cause of death from any birth defect in the first year of life," said Giridharan, who is UofL's principal investigator. "The children usually require three major surgeries in the first few years of life to re-route blood flow, and lighten the workload of the single ventricle, which pumps blood both to the body and lungs."

The implantable pump is designed to deliver blood to the lungs and assist the single ventricle, improving the child's circulatory status, Giridharan said.

"We have created pump prototypes of this novel and simple assist device," Giridharan said. "The funding from the NIH will enable improvement of the prototypes that will hopefully take it that much closer to implantation in humans."

This work has the potential to, at minimum, provide a crutch for patients who are undergoing the current treatment for this condition.

"This device has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of patients with a single ventricle as the use of this device may reduce the number of surgeries from three to one or two and improve survival and clinical outcomes for these patients," Giridharan said.

By taking the workload off of the single ventricle, it may be possible to delay subsequent surgery until the patient has improved cardiac function. In some cases, the researchers said, it's possible that the device may provide patients the support they need to allow their bodies to strengthen and minimize surgeries and use of shunts, which can cause long-term heart and lung dysfunction, neurocognitive deficits, and developmental problems.

"The catheter-based pump is inserted through the skin into a blood vessel, and advanced close to the heart using a simple, minimally-invasive surgical approach," said Steven Koenig, PhD, professor of bioengineering and surgery in the CII. "Once in place, the pump expands to provide blood flow to the lungs, thereby performing the work of the missing ventricle."

The recent grant will support the investigators as they work to enhance the design of the pump, especially with regard to its deployment (collapsibility and expandability) inside the blood vessel, Giridharan said. This project is one of 12 federal and state funded grants received over the past three years totaling $8.8 million to support the work of the Division of Artificial Organs and Mechanical Circulatory Support at the CII, which is led by Mark Slaughter, MD, professor and chief of the Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at UofL, director of the Heart Transplant and Mechanical Assist Device program at UofL and Jewish Hospital and associate medical director of the CII. Other grants include:

  • A $1,440,170 award from the NIH and $600,000 in matching awards from the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC) to support the development of a device to treat early stage heart failure.
  • A $1,580,486 award from the NIH and $600,000 in matching awards from KSTC to support the development of a portable pneumatic driver for a device to treat early stage heart failure.
  • A $1,220,918 award from the NIH to support the testing of the reliability, safety and biocompatibility of a device to treat early stage heart failure.
  • A $260,000 grant from the American Heart Association to develop control and fault detection strategies for mechanical circulatory support devices.

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