Amazing new medical device can keep your heart pumping, even when it stops beating. Usually, when heart trouble strikes, and hearts fail to pump blood, very complex solutions require the use of traditional ventricular assist devices (VADs), that surgically attach to the heart to help pump blood.
But, now, there is a much easier way, without having to surgically alter or manipulate a person heart, instead, the new Soft Robot device simply attaches to a person heart. Without altering the heart, the new device ‘hugs’ it to keep blood flowing, without ever touching the blood. It is a truly amazing invention that can be applied to any mammalian heart; not just humans, but for all kinds of animals too.
The problem with VADs is that the blood touches parts of these devices, which requires patients to take medications, blood thinners, and to be constantly monitored – a condition that often lasts the rest of a person’s life. Not so with the new Soft Robot!
Like a sleeve, it gentle slips over the heart and is non-evasive, and because it holds the heart, and then twists it to help it pump the blood naturally, it effectively eliminates all the negative aspects experienced with VADS. A game changer? No, it is nothing less than a ’life’ changer!
Source – spectrum.ieee.org
