Artificial heart is about to replace the real heart

The artificial heart made of silicone has the ability to work almost the same as the human version.

Scientists at the ETH Zurich Institute in Switzerland have successfully "printed" an artificial heart made of silicone that is capable of nearly the equivalent of a human version.

New technology promises to help us replace essential body parts and help save millions of lives in the future.

This study was published in the 'Artificial Parts' column on onlinelibrary.wiley on July 10, 2017.

Invaluable solution

With about 26 million patients with heart failure and inadequate financial capacity to replace a healthy heart around the world, artificial products will be an invaluable and long-term solution.

The team said that their samples were able to function normally in about half an hour before the constituent materials were decayed. Currently scientists are actively researching to solve problems related to durability.

"Our goal is to develop an artificial heart the same size as the real one on the patient and it can perfectly simulate not only the form but also the function of the human heart , " Nicholas said. Cohrs - one of the team members said.

Similar to human heart, silicone hearts also have left and right ventricles. In addition, it possesses an additional chamber that acts as the heart's motor by controlling the external pump.

The working principle of this artificial 'love symbol' is that high pressure gas increases and decreases the third chamber to lead blood through the ventricles. The scientists also used a liquid with the same viscosity as blood when performing the experiment.

Possessing a weight of 390 grams with a length of 679cm, the silicone heart is slightly heavier but has the same size as a normal heart.

The team hopes its product can completely replace the real being in the future. Unlike machines, the real heart is always at risk of problems and very vulnerable.

Right now, artificial mechanical pumps have been used to support recovering patients from heart failure or those waiting to be offered a real heart.

The artificial heart only works for about 30 minutes.

Need to improve durability

Although each silicone heart only has about 3,000 beats and the strength of the material as well as the efficiency of the heart needs to be significantly improved, but having a soft heart created only with 3D printers is a start. can't be more awesome.

Cohrs said: "This experiment is just a project feasibility test. Our goal is not to introduce a ready-to-transplant heart to the community but to suggest a new direction for the development of artificial heart industry '.

If we cannot replace the most important organ of the human body with a 3D printed version, doctors can still use this technology to assist in regenerating damaged heart tissue. Last month, scientists explained how gene programming in a 'marine specimen' could teach stem cells to replace damaged heart tissue.

Meanwhile earlier this year, a team from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) used spinach leaves to create a fully functioning heart tissue including veins that can transport blood.

Although it is still a long way to replace or recreate the human heart, it is interesting to think that we are closer to that achievement.