A group of scientists at Brown University and the India Institute of Technology have created a "patch" for heart attack victims. When a person has a heart attack, part of the heart dies and cannot be repaired. The scientists created a scaffold out of carbon nanotubes and polymers, which regenerates both natural heart tissue and neurons. The carbon nanotubes are excellent conductors, and make the necessary connections that the heart needs to continue beating. The polymer makes it flexible enough to expand and contract like heart tissue. This technology could save millions of people. The article states that in 2009 785,000 people suffered heart attacks in the United States alone (not surprisingly), and studies show that one in three women and one in five men will suffer a secondary heart attack within 6 years (still not surprising). There will be no shortage of need once this patch is available.
This technology is very interesting to me. My ideal career is an interventional cardiologist, and therefore this might be a technology that I will use routinely in the future. It is exciting to know that hearts damaged from a heart attack can be fixed almost as easily as putting a band-aid on. This will make the threat of secondary heart attacks less severe (as long as the patients stay away from double cheeseburgers), and allow patients to recovery quicker. I'm looking forward to seeing these in widespread distribution.
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/05/19/researchers_create_nanopatch_for_the_heart.html
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