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A Revolutionary New Machine Can Keep a Heart Beating Forever

March, 2014







If you were laughing at Google engineering director Ray Kurzweil's attempts to reach immortality, you might want to bite your tongue: the future is closer than you might think, thanks to a revolutionary new technique to keep a heart beating forever.
Scientists at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis have created a thin, electronic membrane than can keep the heart beating inside at a perfect rate. This "spider-web-like network of sensors and electrodes" is stretchable and lined with circuits to sense and interact with the heart, unlike the pacemakers and implantable defibrillators currently available.
The research group has already experimented successfully with a rabbit heart by scanning it while it was alive, printing a precise 3D model and creating the membrane to fit it.
Once the heart was removed from the rabbit, it was placed inside the membrane in a "nutrient and oxygen-rich solution," and has been beating since then.
Though "cardiac socks" already exist, they cannot fit as snugly as a customized membrane and cannot communicate information to external sources. Not only would this new technology keep hearts beating, but it would also serve as emergency medical devices in the case of cardiac events.
"Because this is implantable, it will allow physicians to monitor vital functions in different organs and intervene when necessary to provide therapy," said biomedical engineer Igor Efimov. "In the case of heart rhythm disorders, it could be used to stimulate cardiac muscle or the brain, or in renal disorders, it would monitor ionic concentrations of calcium, potassium and sodium."
The researchers hope to build functional human models in 10 to 15 years.



Link: http://www.policymic.com/articles/84105/a-revolutionary-new-machine-can-keep-a-heart-beating-forever
Publicado por: Ana Sofia Dutra, E7633

The creation of this blog came from a challenge posed to Masters students of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Beira Interior, Covilhã (Portugal), by Professor Doctor José Eduardo Cavaco within the course "Project in Biomedical Sciences''. The Biomedical Sciences combine the areas of Biology, Biochemistry, Physics, Management and Engineering, stimulating the capacity for self learning, critical thinking and adaptation to new technologies. Thus, the Biomedics integration in different areas of the national and international job market is possible as technical supporters in clinical environment, consulting, industry, education and research. For more information: http://www.ubi.pt/Curso/907.

Comentários

  1. Blog do Biomédico22 de abril de 2014 às 23:28

    A evolução tecnológica está a evoluir de tal forma que a imortalidade está cada vez mais longe de ser uma simples utopia.
    Cientistas das Universidades de Illinois e Washington estão a desenvolver um coração artificial com uma membrana electrónica revolucionária. Projectada como uma membrana fina e elástica, incorpora uma rede de circuitos eléctricos que permitem que o coração bata de forma rítmica e permanente. Para além disto, pode ainda servir como dispositivo médico de emergência em caso de enfartes ou arritmias cardíacas
    Esta tecnologia deverá estar disponível para corações humanos entre 10 a 15 anos.

    Por: Ana Sofia Dutra, E7633

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