Puting an end to post surgical heart implant infections with Wireless Power

Heart implants might have successfully given people seeking treatments to heart ailments a second life, but these too come with one grave disadvantage, that of being powered by an external source. Implantable heart pumps which receive their power from an external source, a power cord needs to be inserted through the patient's belly, and that orifice gets exposed to infections as is evident in 40 percent of the patients undergoing the surgery, resulting in re-hospitalization or even fatalities.

Wireless power for heart implants

The University of Washington and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's own researchers dedicated to the task of bringing this nuisance to an ultimate end, have been making attempts to replace these troublesome cords by developing a system that would wirelessly transmit power to the heart pumps. An archetype of this system has been presented by a team led by Joshua Smith, a UW associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering along with Pramod Bonde, an UPMC heart surgeon.

As per its functioning, electromagnetic waves are sent by a transmitting coil at a specific frequency and the energy from these waves is absorbed by a receiving coil and is stored in a battery. This system succeeds in adjusting the frequency and other parameters by enabling the transmitter and the receiver to change orientation relative to each other. In its present incarnation the UW/UPMC system remains constant over a distance same as the length of the transmitting coil, which indicates that if a one-foot coil is being used, power is then being efficiently transmitted to the receiver over a one-foot distance.

A few inches in length would render the coil an efficiency in usage as one could easily wear it in a vest against the body, with the adjacent receiving coil implanted under the patient's skin. In the previous systems patients would find it troublesome swimming or bathing with the cords inserted into them, but with this creation, the drawback has been checked.The system is now running through its pre-usage examinations,where it was made to transmit energy to a heart pump submerged in water.

Surprisingly it could transmit power at an efficiency of about 80 percent, to a receiving coil being 4.3 centimeters across. Enthused by this, researchers are now looking forward to animal tests. Putting no limits to their innovation, the UW/UPMC team seeks to create a system with several transmitters located in a room so that patients in the room could easily roam about. Other types of implants too are been subjected to such improvisations along with tasks of recharging consumer electronics and underwater instruments in the oceans.

Via Gizmag