Park Chanhui, Kim Yesol, Nam Seonghyeon, Kang Hyejeong, Moon Joonho, Kim Ji Hoon, Cha Gi Doo, Lee Seung-Pyo, Sunwoo Sung-Hyuk, Kim Dae-Hyeong
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea.
School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea.
APL Bioeng. 2025 May 20;9(2):026118. doi: 10.1063/5.0260773. eCollection 2025 Jun.
Cardiovascular diseases, such as ventricular arrhythmias and heart failure, require timely and effective treatment to prevent disease progression and improve patient outcomes. Current therapeutics, including electrical shock and emergent cardiovascular medications, have significantly contributed to managing these conditions. However, due to their systemic side effects, there are ongoing demands for highly effective localized therapies. In this regard, a soft implantable device has been considered for cardiac applications, but invasiveness in their implantation procedure and difficulty in compact integration of multiple functions are unmet challenges. To address these issues, we develop a stretchable, multi-functional fiber designed for emergent cardiac intervention, offering electrogram recording, electrical modulation, and drug therapy directly at the epicardial surface. With temperature-dependent phase shifting properties of the liquid metal inside the fiber, the stiffened fiber can be implanted into the thoracic cavity without invasive surgery. Once implanted, the softened fiber provides multimodal therapies (e.g., chemotherapy and electrical therapy) tailored to the patient's condition. By tuning the delivery parameters based on continuous electrogram recording, effective and urgent cardiac interventions for severe arrhythmias are demonstrated in an rat model.
心血管疾病，如室性心律失常和心力衰竭，需要及时有效的治疗以防止疾病进展并改善患者预后。目前的治疗方法，包括电击和紧急心血管药物，对控制这些病症做出了重大贡献。然而，由于其全身副作用，人们一直对高效的局部治疗有需求。在这方面，一种可植入的软性装置已被考虑用于心脏应用，但它们植入过程的侵入性以及多功能紧凑集成的困难是尚未解决的挑战。为了解决这些问题，我们开发了一种用于紧急心脏干预的可拉伸多功能纤维，可直接在心外膜表面进行心电图记录、电调制和药物治疗。利用纤维内部液态金属的温度相关相移特性，硬化的纤维可以在无需侵入性手术的情况下植入胸腔。一旦植入，软化的纤维可提供根据患者病情定制的多模式治疗（如化疗和电疗）。通过基于连续心电图记录调整输送参数，在大鼠模型中证明了对严重心律失常的有效和紧急心脏干预。
