Dev.SN ♥ developers
Sections
Dev.SN
AnonTechie writes:
"Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new device that may one day help prevent heart attacks. Unlike existing pacemakers and implantable defibrillators that are one-size-fits-all, the new device is a thin, elastic membrane designed to stretch over the heart like a custom-made glove and may arrive to human hearts in 10 to 15 years.
They custom made it to precisely fit the shape of the rabbit's heart: First, while the rabbit was still alive, they scanned it and created a 3D model using computer aided tomography. They manufactured the model in a 3D printer, which they used as a mold to create the membrane. After that they took the heart out, applied the membrane, and kept it beating at a perfect pace.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Dunbal on Monday March 03 2014, @02:15PM
While as a concept it may be wonderful, installing a pacemaker is a minor surgical procedure that requires a small incision under the pectoral muscle, and the leads are places through endo-vascular techniques (through the blood vessels to the heart guided by x-ray fluoroscopy). It's not necessary to open the chest cavity.
Anything that requires a sternotomy (cracking open the rib cage at the sternum) is major surgery indeed. Considering the fact that your patient probably is not the best surgical candidate in the first place (because he has heart trouble requiring the device), this would all but rule out the possibility of fitting it to those who would most benefit from it. Of course it could always be implanted after other routine heart surgeries as standard procedure as a back up for the post operative period. Or endoscopic techniques could be developed in the future. But right now, as it is, I think it is of limited usefulness. Wired devices are less invasive and less risky.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rivenaleem on Monday March 03 2014, @02:34PM
One would also wonder at the timescale. With the pace that stem cell and organ cloning is progressing, will replacement hearts be available before this thing is (10 to 15 years)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by The Grim Reefer on Monday March 03 2014, @03:40PM
Possibly. But this may be a good stop gap measure for when you go into the emergency room. Presumably a new heart would need to be grown from your own cells to reduce complications with rejection. That will take some time.
(Score: 1) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday March 04 2014, @06:24PM
Okay, add 3D printing to my list above. Have they not already started 3D printing organs?
(Score: 3, Informative) by mmcmonster on Monday March 03 2014, @03:48PM
Agree. This has extremely limited usefullness.
There's also issues with the terminology used in the summary. This WILL NOT PREVENT A HEART ATTACK. A heart attack is when a segment of the heart muscle dies, typically due to insufficient blood due to an acutely occluded coronary artery (the arteries that supply the heart muscle itself with blood).
This seems to be a type of pacemaker. Pacemakers are used when the heart rate is too low. As the parent post said, we have much simpler ways to put a pacemaker than this.
As a cardiologist, I see extremely limited use for a device like this.