Bio-Medical Sciences and Engineering PhD Thesis Defense by İbrahim Başar Aka

KOÇ UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

BIO-MEDICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING

PhD THESIS DEFENSE BY İBRAHİM BAŞAR AKA

Title: Design and Performance Optimization of Heart Assist Devices: iHeart VAD and iATVA

Speaker: İbrahim Başar Aka

Time: July 27, 2018, 03:30 pm

Place: MARC ENG B203

Koç University

Rumeli Feneri Yolu

Sariyer, Istanbul

Thesis Committee Members:

Prof. Dr. İsmail Lazoğlu (Advisor, Koç University)

Prof. Dr. Metin Muradoğlu (Koç University)

Prof. Dr. Deniz Süha Küçükaksu (Başkent University)

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kerem Pekkan (Koç University)

Assist. Prof. Dr. Fethi Okyar (Yeditepe University)

Abstract:

Heart failure, some congenital heart defects, and some circulatory disorders are diseases which are treated or alleviated with mechanical circulatory support devices. Even though the ideal therapy for heart failure is a cardiac transplant, due to the donor shortage, Left Ventricular Assist Devices has emerged. As a mechanical pump, an LVAD pumps the blood from the left ventricle to the aorta for supporting the heart. Similarly, for the treatment of Fontan patients with a univentricular heart, some experimental mechanical circulatory support devices have been proposed in the literature. These devices are called Fontan Ventricle Assist Device (FVAD).

This work comprised the design, development, and experiments of İstanbul Heart VAD (iHeart VAD) and integrated Aortic-Turbine Venous-Assist (iATVA) which are a novel centrifugal LVAD and a novel FVAD (a centrifugal turbine-pump couple), respectively. Both devices were designed following the turbomachinery theory. For the iHeart VAD, this work includes computer simulations, hydraulics tests, blood tests and acute animal tests. For the iATVA, this work focuses on hydraulic tests and cardiovascular mock-loop tests. For both devices, chronical animal tests are planned for the near future.