[Assam] From ToI--IIT-KGP's Nano Heart

[Chan Mahanta]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/An-artificial-heart-for-Rs-1-lakh-courtesy-IIT-Kgp/articleshow/4284452.cms 


*** I hope it is not another $ 100 Laptop deal! I wish my alma-mater better.

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An artificial heart for Rs 1 lakh, courtesy IIT-Kgp
19 Mar 2009, 0117 hrs IST, Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey, TNN


KOLKATA: It'll be to coronary care what Nano is to cars, say 
scientists at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, who have 
devised an


Scientists at IIT Kharagpur have devised an artificial heart that 
could save lives for just Rs 1 lakh.
artificial heart that could save lives for just Rs 1 lakh.

The research team says trials of the prototype lab-constructed heart 
have been successful on small animals and the gadget is being 
perfected on goats. The institute has applied for permission to 
conduct human trials.

The Total Artificial Heart (TAH) - said to be the first such in the 
country - has been developed by a team of scientists at IIT-Kgp's 
school of medical science and technology.

After four years of painstaking research, the scientists say their 
creation is better and far more affordable than the first artificial 
heart developed in the US, which showed a ``high rate failure'' and 
at Rs 30 lakh, beyond the reach of the common man.

The inventors hope to fit the heart into an ailing patient within a 
few months, once permissions from the Indian Council of Medical 
Research come through. The unique 13-chamber heart is working fine in 
small animals, said a member of the team. Human tests are to be 
conducted at Medical College and Hospital (MCH), Kolkata.
Senior cardiac surgeons - Madhusudan Pal, Bhaskar Ukil, Tarun Saha 
and Kalishankar Das from MCH and Rajiv Narang of AIIMS, Delhi - will 
conduct the human trials.

``We are also in touch with P Venugopal, former AIIMS director and 
one of the leading cardiac surgeons of the country. We expect him to 
be part of the team as well,'' said Sujoy Guha, IIT-Kgp faculty 
member and bio-medical engineering expert, who is leading the 
artificial-heart team.

``The TAH will be of great help to patients whose heart muscles have 
become so weak that they need immediate transplantation. Angioplasty, 
stents and even bypass surgery are of no use for such patients 
because they cannot strengthen muscles. It is difficult to find donor 
organs and even if transplantation is done, the body develops auto 
rejection and severe medication is required to suppress immune 
reactions," said Guha.
``TAH will be a life-saver, for the price of a Tata Nano,'' said one 
of the scientists. ``Bengal may have lost the Nano, but the world 
cannot miss this Rs 1-lakh invention.''