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Robotic Sleeve Mimics Muscles To Keep a Heart Beating (seeker.com)
randomErr writes: 5.7 million adults in the United States have heart failure each year with about 41 million worldwide. Currently, treatment involves surgically implanting a mechanical pump, called a ventricular assist device (VAD), into the heart. The VAD helps maintains the heart's function. But patients with VADs are at high risk for getting blood clots and having a stroke. Researchers at Harvard University and Boston Children's Hospital have created a soft robotic sleeve that doesn't have to be implanted. The robotic sleeve slips around the outside of the heart, squeezing it in sync with the natural rhythm. "This work represents an exciting proof of concept result for this soft robot, demonstrating that it can safely interact with soft tissue and lead to improvements in cardiac function," Conor Walsh, said in a press statement. Seeker reports: "The sleeve they developed is made from thin silicone and attaches to the outside of the heart with a combination of suction devices and sutures. It relies on soft, air-powered actuators that twist and compress in a way that's similar to the outer layer of muscle of a human heart. A gel coating reduces any friction between the sleeve and the organ. Because the sleeve is soft and flexible, it can be customized to fit not just the size and shape of individual hearts, but augment the organ's weaknesses. For example, if a patient's heart is weaker on the left side than the right, the sleeve can be tuned to squeeze with more authority on the left side. As the organ gains strength, the device can be adjusted." The study has been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Doesn't need to be implanted.
Slips around the heart.
So it's an implant.
It's not often we get something so transformational in medicine. This device, and its future iterations could ultimately proove to eliminate death by heart disease. People will get this implanted at their 55th birthday check up. A leading cause of death eliminated and single handedly increase life expectancy by 15 years.
*clears throat*
(Farnsworth)Good news, everyone!(/Farnsworth)
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Nice Freudian slip.
Cyberwar just got real AF. We just launch their nukes at them.
Could we please NOT have it be wifi? I don't think anyone should have to worry about people in suits squeezing your heart dead to get rid of a journalist and blame someone else in one fell swoop.
"5.7 million adults in the United States have heart failure each year "
You'd think these people would be proactive so that they don't have yet another heart failure next year. But let's question another statement in TFS:
"As the organ gains strength, the device can be adjusted." I've learned, and seen from my own experience, that tissues can atrophy if not fully exercised. Muscles and even tree trunks gain strength by flexing, applying and/or resisting force. Dependence on this 'sleeve' seems counterproductive to gaining strength.
Let's have more study in THIS area: "Researchers in the US and China have developed a durable 'synthetic stem cell' that can repair tissue damaged by a heart attack." - in the news this month from http://www.bionews.org.uk/page... and elsewhere.
...omphaloskepsis often...
The thing with heart surgery is that it requires opening the thoracic cavity which is usually quite traumatic. I've lost family members to known correctable heart conditions simply because they were too old and frail to endure heart surgery. If you have any sort of heart issue that can be corrected surgically get it taken care of while you are still young enough to make a full recovery. Perhaps some enterprising surgeon will figure out a technique to implant these devices as a laparoscopic procedure but I wouldn't bank on it.
Thing that goes around your main bodily fluid pump desperatly needs an interface for configuration and because haveing to cut you open to reduce or increase the amount of contraction it will be wireless.
Queue the first assassination by crushing your targets heart!
All I'm asking is for this fantastic advancement in medical technology to be delayed for about 10 years. No offence grampas of the world but you've made a mess of things and we're kinda counting on you all kicking the bucket as soon as possible so we can fix it. If there is any regulatory agency out there that could keep this back for a while using it's red tape, that would be fantastic. Sorry gramps, you haven't earned it. ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Wasn't there work a while back where they used turbine-like pumps to provide continuous flow to relieve the heart so it could heal itself, rather than try to pulse like a real heart? Not pulsing stops the clots, and not having a heartbeat didn't seem to be a problem, and it didn't shred blood cells passing through the device. So what happened? A continuous flow pump seems mechanically simpler and less likely to screw up as well.
Soft rubbery thing that contracts regularly that you can slip over a muscle. Or a "muscle"?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Would those equipped with a VAD be considered VADERs?
I'll close the door behind me.
For example, if a patient's heart is weaker on the left side than the right, the sleeve can be tuned to squeeze with more authority on the left side. As the organ gains strength, the device can be adjusted."
The device should assist the stronger side, making the weak side work harder so it get's stronger. Much like doctors cover the strong eye to treat amblyopia.
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