It is necessary that the mechanism used to achieve heart wall motion be fluoro-compatible (a radiopacity similar to tissue) so that medical devices advanced into the coronary arteries can be seen on x-ray. The beating heart model must be approximately life-sized to fit into the space available in the chest cavity of the SAM. Our sponsors requested that we increase the size of the heart from the solid heart model currently used in the SAM to create more space for the coronary arteries. The heart model must interface with the urethane aortic tree model and PVA coronary arteries fabricated by Guidant for the SAM.
Additionally, our project sponsors would like all elements of the arterial model to remain modular so that different versions of the branching arties with simulated disease sites can be used interchangeably for testing.