Home » Asia, Biology, Science » South Korea's KAIST develops self-powered pacemaker


South Korea's KAIST develops self-powered pacemaker

 
 
 
 
submit to reddit

368608 Self powered pacemaker%20
The unit works by harvesting electrical energy from the patient’s minute body movements to stimulate the heart.

A team of Korean scientists have invented a self-powered semi-permanent cardiac pacemaker using advanced nanotechnology.

The pacemaker designed by a research team from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) operates semi-permanently by utilizing a flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator.

The new pacemaker runs by harvesting electrical energy from the patient’s minute body movements to stimulate the heart.

This technological advance could ease the use of self-powered flexible energy harvesters, not only extending the lifetime of cardiac pacemakers but also realizing real-time heart monitoring.

“For clinical purposes, the current achievement will benefit the development of self-powered cardiac pacemakers as well as prevent heart attacks via the real-time diagnosis of heart arrhythmia,” says Professor Keon Jae Lee of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST.

An artificial cardiac pacemaker is generally a piece of medical equipment which is implanted in to the human body to regulate the heartbeat of people suffering from arrhythmia.

As a pacemaker’s batteries last an average of seven years, it requires frequent replacements, which may expose patients to a potential risk involved in medical procedures.

Source

Please wait...


RELATED ARTICLES

Did you like this information? Then please consider making a donation or subscribing to our Newsletter.

Conversation Guidelines

Starting a conversation on our website is very easy, all you need to do is to write your name, email and the comment itself. No account is required to leave a comment. Your email won't be used for any purpose whatsoever, if you want, you can even write a fictitious email. Please keep it civil, try to refrain from slurs and insults. We offer Free Speech rights to our comment section but please take note that the comment section is moderated so certain comments may be held for moderation in case they triggered our automatic filters. If your comment is on hold for moderation and you can't see it anywhere there is no need to repost it. Don't worry, it doesn't mean it won't get approved. Please patiently wait and check back later.



Copyright © 2009 The European Union Times – Breaking News, Latest News. All rights reserved.