In pediatric cardiology, every heartbeat counts, especially for the 1 in 4,000 newborns born with an underdeveloped lower chamber, or ventricle, of the heart.

Ellis Meng, the Shelly and Ofer Nemirovsky Chair in Convergent Bioscience and a professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering, and her team are leading innovative research aimed at enhancing survival rates for babies with congenital heart defects who rely on systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunts. They are developing a noninvasive sensing system to monitor blood flow in these critical shunts, detecting blockages and irregularities early enough for timely, potentially lifesaving interventions.

“There’s a population of newborns that develop congenital heart defects, many of whom lack a fully developed left or right ventricle,” said Meng, who also serves as vice dean for technology innovation and entrepreneurship at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Without adequate blood flow through their bodies, these newborns are at high risk.

For these newborns, the Blalock-Taussig shunt is essential. Surgically implanted, it maintains adequate blood flow but can unexpectedly become blocked, which can lead to hypoxia and sudden complications. The rapid growth of infants and the shunt’s small size make it challenging to balance blood flow, frustrating pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons trying to ensure stable and effective circulation.

“Current methods make it difficult to detect over- or under-circulation early,” Meng said, noting that clinicians usually see signs of trouble when symptoms have already become severe.

Meng’s team hopes to pioneer a system that continuously monitors shunt function, offering real-time, noninvasive insights into blood flow dynamics. This capability would enable clinicians to detect early signs of obstruction or insufficient flow, allowing for timely interventions that could prevent life-threatening complications. By integrating advanced sensing and computational modeling, she said, the team aims to transform shunt management and, in the long term, advance data-driven innovations in shunt monitoring and design.

 

Crafting small sensors for tiny bodies

Designing such a sophisticated sensor system presents unique challenges due to the extremely small size of newborns. Infants have much tinier vascular structures than adults, which makes the task of monitoring blood flow even more daunting. “These shunts are about 3 millimeters in diameter,” Meng said. “But even then, we’re operating from the outside of the shunt.” This noncontact approach preserves patient safety while providing clinicians with valuable real-time data on blood flow.

This project started with a chance introduction to Dr. Vishal Nigam, a pediatric cardiologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, who had experienced the difficulty of maintaining stable shunt function in infants.

“He expressed frustration with the current limitations, particularly the lack of real-time data to guide interventions,” Meng recalled.

They secured initial funding from the National Institutes of Health and brought on Juan Carlos del Alamo, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, to help with developing a model of blood flow in shunted patients.

With additional backing from Additional Ventures’ flagship 2024 Single Ventricle Research Fund (SVRF), a program dedicated to bold solutions for single ventricle heart defects, Meng’s team was one of 14 research groups awarded money. The three-year, $600,000 grant allows them to move their innovative shunt-monitoring concept from lab-based testing to preclinical models.

“We’re really at the earliest stages,” Meng said, adding that her team has just begun evaluating their sensor across different blood flow ranges and refining its design for real-world application.

Looking ahead, Meng is optimistic about the impact of this work.

“Our hope is to enable clinicians to detect critical changes in flow early, maximizing survival and improving outcomes for this vulnerable population,” she said.