Newly designed small, flexible device could power a pacemaker with energy from patient's heartbeat, reveals a new study.
![Small, Flexible Device Could Power a Pacemaker with Energy from Heartbeat Small, Flexible Device Could Power a Pacemaker with Energy from Heartbeat](https://www.medindia.net/health-images/pacemaker-with-energy-from-heartbeats.jpg)
‘Newly designed small, flexible device could power a pacemaker with energy from heartbeat. Thus, scientists move one step closer toward making a self-powered heart pacemaker.’
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A conventional pacemaker is implanted just under the skin near the collarbone. Its battery and circuitry generate electrical signals that are delivered to the heart via implanted electrodes. Because surgery to replace the battery can lead to complications, including infection and bleeding, various researchers have tried to build pacemakers that use the natural energy of heartbeats as an alternative energy source. However, these experimental devices aren't powerful enough because of their rigid structure, difficulties with miniaturization and other drawbacks, so Hao Zhang, Bin Yang, and colleagues searched for ways to improve the technology.Read More..
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First, they designed a small, flexible plastic frame. Next, they bonded the frame to piezoelectric layers, which generate energy when bent. They implanted the device in pigs and showed that a beating heart could, in fact, alter the frame's shape, generating enough power to match the performance of a battery-powered pacemaker. The study is a step toward making a self-powered cardiac pacemaker, the researchers say.
Source-Eurekalert