Present and future of the artificial heart driving system.

The totally artificial heart (TAH) is now in development in two trends. First, there is the development of a bridge system for temporary support of cardiac function. The TAH with the extracorporeal pneumatic driving system Sinus-IS is more efficient and safer. Parallel with this, a portable pneumatic driving system has been developed. That can be considered a stage in the development of the second trend: a totally implantable TAH. This article reviews problems of building of the Micron energy system to be used in implantable TAH designs.