While engineered heart tissues can replicate muscle contraction and electrical activity in a dish, many aspects of heart disease can only adequately be captured in 3D. In a report published online yesterday by Nature Biomedical Engineering, researchers describe a scale model of a heart ventricle, built to replicate the chamber’s architecture, physiology and contractions. Cardiac […]
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Adhesive respiratory monitor detects breathing problems early
Children can be at risk for compromised breathing after surgery or from conditions like asthma, congestive heart failure or sleep apnea. Opioid therapy and sedation for medical procedures can also depress breathing. Unless a child is sick enough to have a breathing tube, respiratory problems can be difficult to detect early. Yet early detection can […]
ETV/CPC show positive outcomes in babies with hydrocephalus
Hydrocephalus, literally “water on the brain,” is an abnormal build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain cavities known as ventricles. In infants, it can be congenital (it often accompanies spina bifida, for example), or it can be caused by brain hemorrhage or infection. The usual treatment is surgery to implant a shunt, which drains the […]
Using robot assistance in neurosurgery for faster seizure mapping
Head shaved, a little boy rests on the operating table, deep under anesthesia. His parents have brought him to Boston Children’s Hospital in hopes of determining the cause of his seizures. Now, neurosurgeons Scellig Stone, MD, PhD, Joseph Madsen, MD, and their colleagues in the Epilepsy Center are performing a procedure designed to monitor seizure […]