Pacemaker powered by the heart. Free Technical Library News

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Pacemaker working from the heart

20.06.2017

A variety of miniature medical devices have long been used in everyday clinical practice: these are all kinds of sensors that read certain physiological parameters, these are devices with drugs that release their drug filling in accordance with a certain schedule, these are tiny electronic pacemakers that help the heart work right.

Among pacemakers, there have long been wireless models that operate on their own battery, and in themselves such devices have become so small that they are inserted into the wall of the heart muscle using a catheter through a vein, without any major surgical intervention.

But any power source is depleted sooner or later, but removing the pacemaker will not work so easily - scarring begins around it, so that the device is, as it were, sealed in the heart. Of course, the battery lasts quite a long time, but after a few years the pacemaker still stops working, and you need to put in a new one, so in the end, according to M. Amin Karami from the University of Buffalo, the heart turns into a small graveyard of pacemakers.

Scientists propose to use a device that would collect the energy of heart contractions as a power source for the pacemaker. We are talking about a piezoelectric element: as you know, piezoelectric crystals generate an electric current when compressed.

A piezo element can be mounted on a vibrating motor or even on a bridge that cars are constantly walking on, it is used to turn mechanical vibrations into electricity. But in the same way, regular contractions and expansions of the heart muscle can be used. True, different people have different heart rates, but according to the researchers, their battery can work with a wide range of frequencies.

Now the piezoelectric element is to be combined with the actual pacemaker. Ultimately, the device as a whole must be as small as conventional pacemakers so that it can also be inserted into the heart through a catheter.

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