Control strategies for mechanical heart assist systems

Mechanical Heart Assist Systems are one option to treat cardiovascular disease being the main cause of death worldwide. Since the reliability of these devices has increased and patients on mechanical heart assist systems are even able to leave the hospital, the need for enhanced control algorithms that automatically adapt the output of the devices to the patients need is growing. This review paper aims to give an overview on control strategies proposed for Mechanical Heart Assist Systems. Typical aspects of designing control algorithms are introduced and issues regarding the control of biomedical applications are discussed. Different approaches to control Mechanical Heart Assist Systems are presented and research topics that need further development are identified.