Next Generation

Hearts damaged by coronary artery disease or faulty valves may soon be mended with a polyester-mesh device resembling the net sack of grocery-store oranges. Made of the material used to patch abdominal hernias, the device—coinvented by Jai Raman (above), a cardiothoracic surgeon at the U of C Hospitals—is wrapped permanently around the heart to prevent or suspend enlargement, which can lead to fluid retention, hormone imbalances, and heart failure.

Halfway through a 400-patient trial mandated by the Food and Drug Administration, the device may one day be used along with surgery or medication, or it could be used alone—a promising alternative to transplants, Raman says, because that procedure “is not an option for older patients and in certain parts of the world.”

—D.G.R.