Better Cardio Treatments Designed Using Pig Hearts

(20 Minuten, July 12, 2013)

Metallic grids inserted into human patients to keep a narrowed artery open are called stents. They prevent a heart attack from occurring by allowing blood to flow freely again. However, in two out of five cases a bottleneck forms in spite of the stent. ETH Zurich researchers have investigated the causes for this using pig hearts. Liquid resin is first pumped into the blood vessels. When it subsequently hardens, detail of even the smallest vessel is preserved. The three-dimensional blood vessel sculpture together with the stent is then scanned. It serves as a model to simulate natural blood flow on a computer.