How would you like a tiny membrane over your heart which ensures that it always beats perfectly? Apparently, that is the future of pacemakers, as demonstrated in the successful use of this membrane on a rabbit’s heart.
This next-generation pacemaker has been created by researchers at University of Illinois and Washington University St Louis. The basic design of the pacemaker was initially computer-modeled. This was then used to create a 3D mold which was perfectly sized and suited to a rabbit’s heart.
The team then used the membrane on the heart and it worked perfectly. The pacemaker of sorts kept tracking the heartbeat and whenever it was out of line, the electrodes on the membrane automatically corrected the course. For people suffering with chronic arrhythmia, marked by frequently irregular heart beat, this may turn out to be the perfect solution.
While the membrane has already been tested on a rabbit’s heart, it will be a long while before it actually becomes an available option for humans. We can expect it to arrive somewhere between 5 and 10 years, though. For the human heart, the researchers will possibly have to tweak the size and shape of the membrane. Moreover, the membrane will then stay permanently on top of your heart, which means that you may have a bit of this science inside your chest all time.
Courtesy: Pop Sci
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