The Device that will Revolutionize Heart Failure
Researchers at Harvard University and other institutions have now devised a way to deal with heart failure, in response to the traditional method of removing blood from the heart and then pumping it back into the pulmonary artery or the aorta. Currently, the biggest concern is the increased likelihood of blood clots, as the devices maintains contact with blood. Graduate student Ellen Roche and advisor Connor Walsh decided to make a device that replicates the result, without ever coming into contact with blood, while hugging the heart as to maintain a constant pressure level that will allow it to continuously pump blood. The use of soft robotics (devices made using flexible materials), works with the rhythms of the heart. The new device is a silicon sleeve that consists of actuators, when filled with pressurized air will contract.
The contractions can be used to keep the heart pumping, the movements of the device can also be adjusted in accordance to the required level of assistance of the patients dependent on the change of their disease conditions.
The trials for the device took place on pig cadavers, a live pig with failing heart and synthetic hearts. The device when placed on the live pig, restored the blood flow to baseline. Though they will require more trials on animals, the team hopes that they will be able to eventually conduct long-term human studies, and look further into reducing inflammation on the heart’s surface.
Heart disease is a global concern affecting more than 41 million people, and has cost over billions of dollars overall. Each year, the medical field proposes new ideas on how to potentially treat, or cure the disease, but thus far has not been able to produce a definitive solution. If the invention proves to be successful during human trials, it has the potential to save innumerable lives and prevent countless others from suffering.
