An artificial heart system for testing and evaluation of cardiac pacemakers

Abstract

The usability assessment of a pacemaker is a complex task where the dedicated programmer for testing programmed algorithms is necessary. This paper provides the outcomes of development and complex testing of the artificial cardiac system to evaluate the pacemaker's functionality. In this work, we used the modular laboratory platform ELVIS II and created graphical user interface in LabVIEW programming environment. The electrical model of the heart allows signals generation (right atrium, right ventricle) and the monitoring of the stimulation pulses. The LabVIEW user interface allows to set the parameters of the generated signals and the simulation of the cardiac rhythm disorders as well as the monitoring and visualization of the pacemaker behavior in real-time. The results demonstrate the capability of proposed system to evaluate the paced and sensed pulses. The proposed solution allows the scientists to test the behavior of any cardiac pacemaker for its pre-programmed settings and pacing mode. In addition, the proposed system can simulate various disorders and test cardiac pacemakers in different working modes.