The engine of life

As hard as it is to find nowadays anything that can last more than just a few years, our heart is there to prove that nature is capable of creating the most amazing and reliable things. The muscle that never rests, pumping and beating to keep every part of our body oxygenated, starting as soon as 22 days after we are conceived, just until the day we leave this world.  It beats more than 30 millon times per year and more than 2000 million times during a whole life in average. With each heart beat, it pumps 80ml of blood, making 8000l a day, the power enough to push a car over 32kms. And all this in a muscle with the size of a fist.

CT Scan of a human heart

Heart keeps representing a challenge to medicine, as cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the world, even above cancer or traffic accidents. An estimated 17 million people die of CVDs, particularly heart attacks and strokes, every year. Many of this deaths are related to blocked arteries problems, and today I would like to present two promising technological advances to fight heart disease.

The first is a new application in transmyocardial revascularization (TMR) laser technology that may offer an alternative method of treatment to patients with severe heart disease who are not candidates for coronary bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty. A normal heart depends primarily on the coronary arteries to deliver its blood supply from the left ventricle cavity, the pumping chamber of the heart. In patients with heart disease, the coronary arteries are blocked preventing normal blood flow to the heart muscle. However, they still have a large supply of oxygenated blood in their left ventricular cavity. For a subset of patients who are not candidates for traditional cardiac surgery, which bypasses blocked arteries, surgeons have to create new pathways for the blood flow. TMR uses laser energy to create these pathways through a series of 1mm channels from the outer surface of the heart through the heart muscle into the left ventricular cavity, allowing for an increased blood flow directly from this "blood-filled" chamber to the oxygen-starved areas of the heart muscle.

The second is related to something that has already been discussed in the blog: nanotechnology. Concretely, targeted nanoparticles callled nanoburrs that can reach damaged vascular tissue and may be used to deliver drugs that help clear arteries. This new particles have been designed by MIT and Harvard researchers with the aim of treating cardiovascular disease. The nanoburrs are coated with tiny protein fragments that allow them to stick to damaged arterial walls. Once stuck, they can release drugs such paclitaxel, which inhibits cell division and helps prevent growth of scar tissue that can clog arteries. Moreover, drugs are delivered over a longer period of time, and can be injected intravenously, preventing patients from enduring repeated and surgically invasive injections directly into the area that requires treatment.

In the next posts we will see what is going on with pacemakers, apart from other curiosities about the heart. In the meantime, take well care of your heart by doing regular exercise, cutting down on cigarettes and eating healthier. Surely it will make the difference.