Read our interview with Pinja Ojanen, Research Nurse at Scandinavian Realheart. Since 2019, Scandinavian Realheart has partnered with Virtonomy, using the v-Patients software to develop their Total Artificial Heart (TAH) for patients with severe heart failure. The v-Patients platform enables Realheart to test and refine the TAH’s anatomical fit in virtual patient models, reducing the need for physical prototypes and animal studies. This innovative approach has saved time, resources, and costs by allowing precise adjustments in a virtual setting.
Research Nurse Pinja Ojanen highlights v-Patients as an easy-to-use and invaluable tool, essential in advancing Realheart’s mission to transform patient care in cardiac health.
About Scandinavian Realheart
Scandinavian Realheart AB develops a total artificial heart (TAH) for implantation in patients with life-threatening heart failure. Realheart® TAH has a patented design that resembles that of the natural human heart. The artificial heart consists of a four-chamber system (two atria and two ventricles) designed to generate a physiological blood flow pattern that mimics the body’s natural circulation. A unique concept in the medical technology world.
Please tell us what you are working on.
I work with fitting the Realheart TAH (total artificial heart) into heart failure patients, to help with developing inclusion criteria for our patients.
How are you using v-Patients to assist you in device development?
Mostly we use the v-Patients to evaluate if design changes are beneficial to the patients, and preferably even an improvement on the previous version. We use the tools to measure and evaluate distances within the anatomic model as well as the virtual environment to fit our device into the chest cavity.
V-Patients is a very helpful tool as it saves a lot of time in developing the device as well as reduces the need the animal studies.
Did v-Patients software make it easier to run product development?
It has made product development easier, since we can now fit the drawings of the device into the anatomical model, instead of having the parts manufactured, only to realize that there is something that might not anatomically work.
Would you say v-Patients has helped you save resources and reduce costs?
It has saved a lot on material costs and prototyping new designs definitely. It also has saved time and resources in animal testing, as everything considering fitting of the device, can be easily resolved in v-Patients. It is also critical to evaluate the animal size and fitting before proceeding to doing animal testing, in order to reduce and refine the amount of animals used.
Any other comments you would like to say?
I really love using v-Patients, it is easy, accessible and only requires an internet connection, nothing to download on your own computer. It’s been fantastic to see the company grow and expand into a variety of medical devices and simulation.
The development of the software is also great and fast, and the personnel are super nice to work with, typically they deliver new patients quickly and respond to emails within 1 day!
Read more about how Realheart is using v-Patients in the article Clinical version of Realheart TAH being tested on virtual patients.
Scandinavian Realheart’s collaboration with Virtonomy and the v-Patients platform highlights the power of virtual modeling to transform medical device development. By reducing the need for physical prototypes and animal studies, Realheart has been able to accelerate progress toward delivering a life-saving solution for heart failure patients. As they continue refining their Total Artificial Heart, Realheart is committed to patient-centered innovation and to solving complex challenges with cutting-edge technology. We’re proud to support their groundbreaking work and excited to see how the Realheart TAH will improve lives in the field of cardiac care.
