DENVER (KDVR) — A group of researchers and engineers from the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the University of Washington performed a study that suggests it can make a common heart treatment safer.

Left ventricular assist devices, also known as LVADs, are a common treatment for people who experience severe heart failure. They assist the heart with pumping blood, and while they can be lifesaving, users of the device suffer an increased chance of stroke.

The study led by the researchers at the universities focused on hemodynamics — the study of the blood flow in the body — and may be able to explain why LVADs raise stroke risk, and how the devices may be able to be made safer.

The researchers created "digital twins" of real patients with LVADs to map the flow of their blood. Some patients had experienced a stroke after using the device, while others had not.

The group then studied the differences in blood flow patterns in the patients who had a stroke versus those who did not, finding that the LVADs were responsible for the way the blood flowed through the body.

“We are in an age where there is quite a bit of data that we have access to, and we know a lot about how fluid moves through the arteries and veins,” said Debanjan Mukherjee, senior author of the study and assistant professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder, in a press release. “We are looking at blood flow patterns as information that currently is not incorporated in clinical practice.”

The research could help health care providers understand patients' blood flow patterns before surgically implanting the LVAD, which can help them anticipate the patients' level of risk and create a more customized treatment for that person.

“Knowledge gained from this study can help us develop patient-specific implant techniques to reduce the likelihood of stroke in patients with durable LVADs,” said Jay Pal, professor and chief of cardiac surgery at the University of Washington, and a co-author of the study.

To view the full study, visit the Science Direct website.