A mesh that wraps around the dysfunctional heart and fits snugly over it, activates it with electrical signals and thus replaces the pacemaker.
The new innovation was presented by researchers from South Korea and the United States, led by Hai Jin Huang of Harvard University School of Medicine, in a publication in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The pacemaker has been successfully tested in experimental animals (rats) and is intended for patients with heart failure in whom the heart is not performing its role as a blood pump. Unlike the pacemaker, which acts locally, the epicardial plexus electrically activates large areas of the heart muscle.
Heart failure, usually caused by a heart attack, weakens the heart muscle and its ability to pump blood. About half of patients with heart failure die within five years of diagnosis, a higher mortality rate than most cancers.
Pacemakers send electricity to specific areas of the heart, delaying heart failure, but are only suitable for some patients. Various scientific teams are developing alternatives in the form of devices that “circle” the outside of the profit. Some such devices are already being tested clinically.
The Korean-American epicardial network, which mimics heart tissue, sends electrical pulses to both ventricles of the heart. The flexible “net” is made of silver nanowires embedded in elastic material.
Researchers are optimistic that the device could be used in diseases other than heart failure.
SOURCE: www.iatrikathemata.gr
