Tsukuba remote monitoring system for continuous-flow artificial heart.

In order to make long-term medical treatment with the use of an artificial heart effective, we developed the Tsukuba remote monitoring system, which enables medical staff to manage the physiological condition of patients and the driving condition of the artificial heart at anytime from a remote place. This remote monitoring system has three functions: first, a remote monitoring function, which enables medical staff to monitor measured data from a remote place anytime by using not only a personal computer but also a cellular phone; second, an analyzing function, which estimates the unmeasured physiological behavior in the body based on a mathematical physiological model; and third, a warning function, which detects physiological problems and malfunction of the artificial heart by applying the if-then rule and sends a warning message to the medical staff. As a result of applying this system to animal experiments, we have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed system.