{"id":26088,"date":"2019-09-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2019\/09\/repairing-faulty-electricity-in-the-heart-with-conductive-thread\/"},"modified":"2020-01-06T19:22:27","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T19:22:27","slug":"repairing-faulty-electricity-in-the-heart-with-conductive-thread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2019\/09\/repairing-faulty-electricity-in-the-heart-with-conductive-thread\/","title":{"rendered":"Repairing faulty electricity in the heart with conductive thread"},"content":{"rendered":"
Have you\u00a0ever been in a place where the lights flicker and threaten to go out, thanks to faulty electricity?\u00a0Now imagine that place is your body.<\/p>\n
Electrical impulses set the rhythm and rate of your heartbeat. The sparks start in a cluster of cells in the right atrium and then spread through the upper chambers of the heart, forcing them to contract and push blood into the ventricles.<\/p>\n
When these electrical signals go haywire, though, the heart\u2019s ability to pump oxygen-rich blood from the ventricles out to the body is jeopardized. A heart that beats too quickly, too slowly or erratically can be life-threatening.<\/p>\n
But what if there was a new way to repair the heart\u2019s electrical system? What if surgeons could sew a current directly into the soft tissue?<\/p>\n
Most ventricular arrhythmias\u2014the umbrella term for abnormal heartbeats\u2014occur in hearts that contain scar tissue from previous heart attacks, heart surgery or diseased heart muscle. Why? Because scar tissue does not conduct electricity.<\/p>\n
Typically, surgeons defibrillate the heart\u2014send it a controlled electrical shock\u2014to reset the electrical system, and then implant a pacemaker or defibrillator to maintain it. But a new material, developed and tested in the Texas Medical Center, might\u00a0be able to repair the heart\u2019s electrical current in a more efficient way.<\/p>\n
A highly conductive thread made from carbon nanotube fibers could build a bridge over or through soft scar tissue. In essence, surgeons would stitch an electrical bridge in the heart.<\/p>\n