Feb.26, 2014
Soon, an implantable 3D device can deliver treatment or predict an impending heart attack before a patient shows any physical symptoms.
Using an inexpensive 3D printer, biomedical engineers have developed a custom-fitted, implantable device with embedded sensors that could transform treatment and prediction of cardiac disorders.
The team at the school of engineering and applied science at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Igor Efimov, PhD, have created a 3-D elastic membrane made of a soft, flexible, silicon material that is precisely shaped to match the heart's epicardium, or the outer layer of the wall of the heart.
Igor Efimov works with Sarah Gutbrod, PhD candidate in biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, in Efimov's lab in Whitaker Hall.
"Each heart is a different shape, and current devices are one-size-fits-all and don't at all conform to the geometry of a patient's heart," says Efimov, the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering.
"With this application, we image the patient's heart through MRI or CT scan, then computationally extract the image to build a 3D model that we can print on a 3D printer. We then mold the shape of the membrane that will constitute the base of the device deployed on the surface of the heart."
Ultimately, the membrane could be used to treat diseases of the ventricles in the lower chambers of the heart or could be inserted inside the heart to treat a variety of disorders, including atrial fibrillation.
The team can then print tiny sensors onto the membrane that can precisely measure temperature, mechanical strain and pH, among other markers, or deliver a pulse of electricity in cases of arrhythmia. Those sensors could assist physicians with determining the health of the heart, deliver treatment or predict an impending heart attack before a patient exhibits any physical signs.
The figure above is a graphical depiction of the steps researchers took to design and create the 3-D elastic membrane that is shaped precisely to match the epicardium of the heart. The top row, from left to right, shows the rabbit heart, the 3-D printed model, the membrane, then the membrane integrated with the heart. The large center photo shows the sensors on the membrane on the heart. The bottom row, from left to right, shows the different sensors that can be used in the membrane.
"Currently, medical devices to treat heart rhythm diseases are essentially based on two electrodes inserted through the veins and deployed inside the chambers," says Efimov, also a professor of radiology and of cell biology and physiology at the School of Medicine. "Contact with the tissue is only at one or two points, and it is at a very low resolution. What we want to create is an approach that will allow you to have numerous points of contact and to correct the problem with high-definition diagnostics and high-definition therapy."
Recently, Google announced its scientists had developed a type of contact lens embedded with sensors that could monitor glucose levels in patients with diabetes. Efimov says the membrane his team has developed is a similar idea, though much more sophisticated.
"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."
Efimov says the membrane could even hold a sensor to measure troponin, a protein expressed in heart cells and a hallmark of a heart attack. Ultimately, such devices will be combined with ventricular assist devices, Efimov says.
"This is just the beginning," he says. "Previous devices have shown huge promise and have saved millions of lives. Now we can take the next step and tackle some arrhythmia issues that we don't know how to treat."
The findings were published online in Nature Communications on Feb. 25, 2014.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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that's amazing! many lifes will be saved . congratulations to professor Efimov and his team
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