Cardiac device testing enhanced by simultaneous imaging modalities: the Visible Heart, fluoroscopy and echocardiography.

The evaluation of implantable cardiac devices requires innovative and critical testing in all phases of the design process. The recent development of an in vitro isolated heart model, the Visible Heart, allows for novel examination of device-tissue interactions to evaluate device placement and performance within a functioning heart. This model provides product designers with a rapid method to critically assess prototypes, thus expediting design decisions. The future of cardiac devices will include beating heart procedures (e.g., transcatheter-delivered valves), and such implantations will probably utilize simultaneous multiple imaging modalities. These imaging modes allow for verification of proper device positioning, refinement of device/deployment procedures, and eventual evaluation of resultant cardiac function within experimental and clinical settings.