In just eight years, the world’s first completely robotic “hybrid” heart will be ready for transplant.
That’s according to a report from the U.K.’s Daily Mirror, which on Jan. 23 published an article claiming the innovation might completely eradicate the need for transplants within the next decade. Dutch physicians, including Jolanda Kluin of the University of Amsterdam, are working with the British Heart Foundation to develop the hybrid heart model, which will reportedly be made of soft artificial muscles and sensors and coated in lab-grown human tissue.
The heart will be driven by fluid or air, according to the report, and powered by electricity that will be transferred wirelessly from a power source worn by the patient. A smaller battery implanted in the patient will be able to power the heart for around an hour in the case of water exposure.
According to the Mirror, EU-funded research has already determined the tech is possible.
“There is a huge shortage in donor organs and, in a way, that’s good,” Kluin told the Mirror. “Every donor organ means that somewhere else, someone young has died. A hybrid heart could create the first-ever solution for end stage heart failure.”
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.