Operating on a heart is not easy. It is not necessary for us to come and say it. Surgeons, logically, must rehearse before working with human hearts, but to do this they need structures that are as similar as possible. Traditionally we have worked with animal organs. However, they are expensive to obtain and, as is normal, there are lots of ethical dilemma around it. For this reason, in recent years, synthetic organs obtained in the laboratory from human cells have begun to be produced. However, it was a matter of time before new technologies joined the search, giving these practice models a further boost. The first device of this type was a robotic heart which works exactly the same as a human one.
It has been developed by a team of scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and they are so satisfied with the results that they hope that it will be approved for commercialization very soon. It is actually a biorobotic heartsince it uses as a base a pig heartto which robotic technology is added to make it pump blood exactly like a human heart.
Logically, this robotic heart would not solve the problems of using animal organs. However, this has been done only for the first tests. If it becomes commercialized, these scientists they explain which, as a basis, could be used 3D printed organ from human cellswithout the need to resort to any animal.
What is this robotic heart for?
It is important to note that, at least for now, this robotic heart is not suitable for transplantation into humans. But that doesn’t mean it’s not useful. In fact, it is very necessary.
Organ models are used for many purposes, although three are the most common. On the one hand, help patients to understand his illness. It is important that they are clear about what is happening to them and the possible techniques that could be applied to them and, for this, an artificial organ that works exactly the same as theirs is the best option.
They can also be used to test the effects of different techniques and treatments. But, above all, for train surgeons and students. This is very important. That when they are in front of a human organ in a patient, they have practiced many times before with an organ that is as similar as possible. And that is what this robotic organ achieves.
It presents two main benefits with respect to an animal organ. On the one hand, thanks to technology, Pump blood exactly like a human heart. And, on the other hand, that the blood is transparent. This may seem silly, but when operating on a patient, surgeons must know very well how to move, as dark blood often clouds their movements. As a result, it is very useful to train with clear blood to begin with. Of course, dark blood can be added later so that they are prepared for what they are going to encounter, but that would be a second step.
The steps to achieve it
To obtain this robotic heart, MIT scientists They took a pig’s heart and They removed the thick muscle surrounding the left ventricle. They did this because the tests that would be performed later would involve surgery in this specific area of the heart, so they needed to include the robotic mechanism there. However, it could have been done with any other part of the organ.
Once this muscle was removed, it was replaced with a silicone robotic pump. This material imitates human muscle and it is also attached to a mechanism so that it pumps blood as it normally would. It inflates, contracting the silicone muscle and then dilates, pushing blood in the same way that happens in the chest of a human being.
This robotic heart was used for a group of surgeons to test four surgical techniques aimed at treating a condition called mitral regurgitation. In it, the mitral valve, which separates the atrium from the left ventricle, does not close properly, so blood flows in the wrong direction, causing symptoms that can be very serious if not treated.
The surgery is complicated, so it is necessary good training of the surgeons who perform it. Those who participated in this study tried four techniques and were able to develop them without problem. The robotic heart was perfectly comparable to a human one.
That’s why they hope it will be commercialized soon. It would avoid many ethical dilemmas and, indirectly, help save lives. What better reasons than those?