Sometimes people need to have pacemakers implanted into them on a temporary basis, like when they are coming out of cardiac surgery or when they’re waiting for a permanent pacemaker to be installed. However, the problem with temporary pacemakers is that removing them requires surgery which in turn is risky as it could end up damaging the heart.
This is why researchers at the Northwestern and George Washington universities have developed a temporary pacemaker, that they believe is the first-ever transient pacemaker, that can dissolve into the body after 5-7 weeks, meaning that removing it will not be necessary and reduce any additional surgeries.
The researchers claim that the pacemaker is fully biocompatible and will naturally absorb into the body’s biofluids over the weeks. So what about the components? Will our body absorb those too? Obviously not, which is why the researchers have designed it in such a way that there are no batteries, wires, or leads.
Instead, the device is powered by taking energy from an external antenna that uses wireless protocols similar to those used by RFID tags. That being said, it might be a while before we see it being used on patients. So far the researchers have successfully tested out their design on animals like rats, so it could be some time before we see it approved for use in humans.
Filed in . Read more about Health and Science. Source: physicsworld