Designers: Keita Okayama, Makoto Inada, andMunekuni Sato, Heartroid Project, Osaka University, JMC Corporation, Fuyo Corporation, Osaka, Japan
Manufacturer: JMC Corporation, Yokohama-City, Kanagawa, Japan
Heartroid - The Mission:
Heartroid is a catheter-based simulation platform designed to eliminate the use of animals in medical research, and to enable medical students and interventional cardiologists to hone their surgical skills and improve patient outcome.
Heartroid – The Product:
Designed and manufactured by JMC Corporation/Osaka University/FUYO Corporation, a Japan-based 3D printing and prototyping company, Heartroid is an ex-vivo simulation platform used for R&D, testing, and education related to catheter-based medical devices and procedures.
Heartroid’s 3D printed cardiovascular models are anatomically precise, exhibiting specific pathologies that enable medical device developers and interventional cardiologists to test procedures similar to those made at a hospital cath lab. Additionally, the 3D models have flexibility and haptics similar to human tissue, and when connected to Heartroid’s proprietary pump, are able to pulsate while floating in a custom designed clear water tank. The 3D printed material is created to work seamlessly under X-Ray Fluoroscopy, as well as other imaging techniques commonly used in catheter-based surgical interventions.
Heartroid is currently being used by leading medical device companies and research labs around the world.
