HeartGate is a surgical implantation kit designed to enable the implantation of heart pumps on a beating heart without the use of a heart-lung machine. The combination of a specialised punch and a blood-tight seal provides minimally invasive access to the heart and minimises blood loss. The aim is to perform a gentler procedure with a shorter operation time and fewer complications – particularly for high-risk patients.
The interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Florian Meißner and Manuela Schön is based at the University Medical Centre Freiburg and is supported by the StartUp Campus at Furtwangen University and the University of Freiburg’s start-up office within the INSPIRE BW network. The further development of HeartGate is being funded by the German government’s GO-Bio next programme to the tune of €4.4 million.
