The use of Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) has proven to be an effective treatment option for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients who are not eligible for heart transplantation. These devices can serve as a bridge to heart transplantation (BTT) or as destination therapy (DT). While LVADs operate at a constant flow, this can affect the patient's quality of life and survival rate. To address this issue, Health 4.0 (H4) has developed new technological resources to personalize control systems and integrate medical devices into treatment. In this effort, a Physiological Control of LVAD (PC-LVAD) system was implemented within the H4 platform, using an Intelligent Embedded System (IES). The IES was developed using the MyRIO® development platform and tools such as LabVIEW® FPGA and RT, Quartus II® EDA, and MATLAB®. To evaluate its performance, preliminary criteria were assessed in experimental tests, analyzing the Internet of Things (IoT) characterization and applying best practices for information security. The results of the experimental tests showed that the IES could store and transmitting data in real-time to a graphical interface, and the data were found to be consistent with external measuring instruments.

This paper presents the development and verification of a control system of a hospital bed with health 4.0 protocols. The Internet of Things (IoT) is an enabler of Industry 4.0, this being the ability of direct communicative interconnection between Machine to Machine (M2M) devices provided by the extension of the current Internet, which provides objects, with computational and communication capabilities, to connect to the Internet. This connection allows users to control objects remotely and/or make them service providers. IoT and big data in use in Assistive Technologies, can promote greater independence for people with disabilities and improve the outcomes of long-term therapies within the hospital. But for this, the development of a control system to integrate the cyber-physical systems is necessary.

Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs) play a crucial role in both bridging to transplantation and serving as destination therapy for congestive heart failure (CHF) management. This study aims to address the limitations of existing control strategies for VADs, specifically their inability to adapt automatically to hemodynamic changes. It proposes a novel embedded cyber-physical system (CPS) based on real-time data processing, reconfigurable architecture, and communication protocols aligned with Health 4.0 concepts to enhance physiological control over VADs (PC-VAD). The research employs a multi-objective PC-VAD approach within a hybrid cardiovascular simulator. An embedded CPS is introduced to overcome challenges related to differences in controller characteristics between computers and embedded systems. The study assesses the performance of the embedded CPS by comparing it with a computer-based control system. The embedded CPS demonstrates outcomes comparable to the computer-based control system, maintaining mean arterial pressure and cardiac output at physiological levels. Even in the face of variations in ejection fraction, the embedded CPS dynamically adjusts the pump's rotational speed based on simulated clinical conditions. Notably, there is no aortic reflux to the ventricle through the VAD during testing. These findings affirm the satisfactory control performance of the embedded CPS in regulating VADs. The study concludes that the embedded CPS effectively addresses the limitations of current VAD control strategies, exhibiting control performance comparable to computer-based systems. However, further experimentation and in vivo studies are necessary to validate and ensure its applicability in real-world scenarios.

This work presents the design of a hydrodynamic performance bench (HPB) of Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs) for evaluations of developed prototypes. VADs are used for the treatment of patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), either as a bridge to recovery, for transplantation or as destination therapy. HPB is required for the performance evaluation of VADs that are under development in Brazil. The performance evaluation of a VAD considers the rotation speed [rpm], flow rate [L/min], pressure [mmHg] and power [W]. The project consists in choosing an actuator and transducers from HPB, and developing the mechanical components, supervisory control and modules. The HPB mechanical components were designed in SolidWorks® following rapid prototyping and built by additive manufacturing. The HPB supervisory program was developed in graphic language through the Labview® program and implemented in a development and application platform with data acquisition system. The manipulated variable of the supervisory system is the motor speed [rpm] acting via an Escon 50/4 EC-S power controller on the BLDC EC45 N339281 motor. The controlled variable is the “VAD flow” [L/min] provided by an HT-110 flow transducer. A particle image velocimetry (PIV) module was developed for flow analysis. All process data are stored in spreadsheets for later consultation. HPB could assist in a satisfactory way in the analysis of the developed VADs prototypes, demonstrating the technical success of the project.