Heart Disease Treatment: Tissue Engineering Leads to Development of Artificial Heart for Humans

Heart disease is known for its set of dangerous and life-threatening ailments and conditions that targets the heart, as well as its connecting blood vessels and arteries.

Since the organ is unable to heal itself unlike its other counterparts in the body, scientists resorted to tissue engineering to address the medical challenge, and developing an artificial heart.

Artificial Heart

Heart disease — Photo by Mikhail Nilov via Pexels

In a new paper published in the journal Science on Thursday, July 7, bioengineers successfully recreated a replica of the heart's structure consisting of thin fibers woven together through rotary jet spinning.

The scientists also improved the understanding of how the heart beats after recreating the heart muscles' helical structure.

The said artificial heart could fit inside a human heart, opening the avenue of a potential mechanisms to address the challenges posed by heart disease and the lethal cardiac arrest.

Also Read: Socio-Economic Deprivation Connected with Heart Disease and Eventually Premature Death

What is Heart Disease?

Heart disease, in general, is a "collection of diseases and conditions" that can lead to various cardiovascular problems or cardiovascular diseases.

These include coronary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, and congenital heart disease.

While there are various forms of heart diseases, the most common denominator amongst each types are due to a plaque buildup in the arteries of the heart, according to healthline.com.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 17 million premature deaths occurred in 2019, wherein 38% of these fatalities were caused by cardiovascular diseases.

The life-threatening medical condition is responsible for 17.9 million deaths worldwide.

In addition the WHO adds that 85% of these cases were due to heart attack and stroke.

Heart Disease Symptoms

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledges that heart disease is the one of the main causes of death in the United States, clarifying the term only refers to many types of heart conditions.

In the US, the most common type of heart disease I called the coronary artery disease (CAD), which can lead to heart attack and even death.

The US health body also mentions there are instances where heart disease is "silent" and is not diagnosed until an individual experiences the following symptoms or signs of a heart disease:

Heart attack - chest pain or discomfort are the main symptoms of heart attack. Other syndrome may include upper back pain, neck pain, heartburn, indigestion, nausea, or vomiting. Extreme fatigue, dizziness, and shortness of breath are also signs of the medical condition.
Heart failure - shortness of breath is the only common symptoms that a heart attack has with heart failure, which includes symptoms like fatigue and swelling of the ankles, feet, legs, abdomen, or neck veins.
Arrhythmia - palpitations or the so-called "fluttering feelings" in the chest is what best describes the symptoms for this heart disease type.

Heart Disease Risk Factors

The CDC said that existing health conditions like high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, as well as smoking, are considered as risk factors or aggravating factors for the acquisition or development of hear disease.

Other medical conditions and unhealthy lifestyle choices that are risk factors for heart disease are the following: