Key result
VITALS implantable sensors track epicardial strain with ~2% error in an acute porcine model.
Why the study?
Traditional follow-up often misses gradual postoperative cardiac deterioration in heart failure, and practical, continuous, and sensitive remote monitoring methods remain lacking.
The VITALS implantable strain sensing network demonstrates preclinical feasibility for continuous biventricular monitoring and correlates with echocardiographic metrics in acute animal models, offering a potential future tool for postoperative heart failure monitoring.
Acute porcine validation supports further sensor development; leaves open human translation for continuous HF monitoring.
Heart Failure (HF) is a global epidemic, with high readmission rates and significant morbidity persisting due to gaps in post-acute care.Traditional follow-up often misses gradual postoperative cardiac deterioration occurring outside hospital settings. While advances in remote patient monitoring show promise, practical, continuous, and sensitive methods remain lacking. Building on previous work introducing a durable, soft strain sensor, this research presents VITALS, an implantable strain sensing network that enables continuous biventricular, multiaxial monitoring of cardiac function. The sensor's design demonstrates improved fatigue life in bechtop testing compared to other soft, large-deformation strain sensors, while effectively minimizing shear loading effects to enhance accuracy. Additionally, the network integrates a sensor on the aorta for synchronous systolic pressure monitoring. Acute animal studies demonstrate the potential of VITALS' to track epicardial strain, detect preload changes rapidly, and differentiate inotropic states. Validation against echocardiographic chamber volumes and GLS provides preliminary support of the sensor's clinical relevance.
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Kight et al. (2025) studied Heart Failure (Preclinical model) (n=3). VITALS implantable sensor network vs. Standard clinical metrics (echocardiography, optical tracking, catheters) was evaluated on Strain measurement accuracy (root mean square error compared to optical tracking). The VITALS implantable sensor network accurately measured epicardial strain with a root mean square error of 2.2% compared to optical tracking in an acute porcine model.
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