A team of researchers led by a George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science professor developed a new class of medical instruments equipped with an advanced soft electronics system that could dramatically improve the diagnoses and treatments of a number of cardiac diseases and conditions.
Detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the researchers, led by Igor Efimov, the Alisann and Terry Collins Professor of Biomedical Engineering, applied stretchable and flexible matrices of electrode, temperature and pressure sensors, along with actuators that enable movement, to a balloon catheter system. Balloon catheters are often used in minimally invasive surgeries or ablations, a procedure for restoring normal heart rhythm, to treat conditions such as heart arrhythmias.
“We have taken new breakthrough materials and fabrication techniques typically employed by the semiconductor industry and applied them to the medical field, in this case cardiology, to advance a new class of medical instruments that will improve cardiac outcomes for patients and allow physicians to deliver better, safer and more patient-specific care,” Dr. Efimov said.