We take our hearts for granted most of the time. But sometimes things go wrong. Engineers are working on ways to help hearts heal from heart attacks. We’ll take a look today, on Engineering Works.
For most of us, our hearts work just fine most of the time. They thump along, keeping our blood flowing through our veins and arteries. Until we have a heart attack. More than 650,000 of us have heart attacks every year. Doctors can often repair the damage from the heart attack, but sometimes that heart attack is the beginning of a condition called congestive heart failure.
Congestive heart failure is what happens when the muscles of the heart start to come undone. They get flabby and they don’t pump as well as they used to. Sometimes they get so weak that even standing up out of your chair is hard.
An engineer at Texas A&M University has come up with a device he says should help damaged hearts heal. It’s a flexible cup that fits around your heart and squeezes in time to your heartbeat. The additional pressure helps pump blood almost normally. This kind of assist should help the heart muscles recover from heart attack damage.
They’re still testing the device in animals, so it’ll be a while before they’re available.
Our heart feels like it’s beating just fine, even without help. See you next time.
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