Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Implant Locations for Transcutaneous Inductive Energy Transfer Systems

The number of donor hearts in case of severe heart failure covers only about a quarter of all patients on the waiting list. That’s why mechanical circulatory support systems are to be designed for long time use, which provide a best possible integration in daily life routine. Unfortunately, there are still weak spots regarding these devices, for example an energy transmission driveline through the abdominal wall, that can cause life threatening infections. Getting rid of this driveline is the next step in ventricular assist device improvement. Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach is very important to consider both technical and human aspects. In this paper, a setup of a transcutaneous inductive energy transfer system is presented. Its focus is on coil displacement tolerance as well as loss reduction of implanted secondary side components. Furthermore, locations for the coil implant in the human body are discussed regarding technical, anatomical and applicability-related criteria. As a result, implanting the coil subcutaneously in the upper chest is assessed as the most promising implantation area.