Developing new material solutions for cardiac pace lead and sensor encapsulation
Coronary disease is the leading cause of hospitalization and death worldwide. Serious complications happen in 12-15% of major cardiac surgeries, and are associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and higher costs. Current intra- and post-operative cardiac monitoring approaches used to detect a problem before it becomes a serious complication have significant drawbacks. They can be highly invasive, inaccurate and do not provide continuous monitoring, and patient outcomes can be adversely affected as a result. 

Cardiaccs is developing a disruptive medical device called ‘CardiSense’, to address this urgent unmet need for better cardiac function monitoring. CardiSense is the only device of its kind that measures cardiac function continuously, in real-time and with improved sensitivity, making it ideal for use in complex open-heart cardiac surgery patients and potentially allowing intra- and post-operative complications to be avoided, reducing morbidity, mortality and overall care costs.

Although CardiSense provides a ground-breaking solution for cardiac monitoring, the addition of an Innovation Associate (IA) is key to develop the most robust and user-friendly version of our device. We are an SME with limited capacity to mobilize the job market and attract highly skilled professionals to continue the development of CardiSense. Through the SME IA programme we aim to recruit an industrial/mechanical engineer with biocompatible materials science know-how to develop new material solutions for device components. This is key to improving the flexibility, encapsulation and reducing the diameter of the device components that will maximise our market impact.

The MATPASE project will significantly advance and upgrade CardiSense to become an invaluable tool in cardiac monitoring. Not only this, the IA will gain training and hands-on experience that will expand the IA’s employability while simultaneously improving our R&D in-house capabilities for future innovation projects