Dr. Franz Freudenthal has found a solution where surgery is not needed to close a hole in a heart. "The problem starts during pregnancy. The fetus needs to survive inside the mother. Survival depends on communication between the systemic and the pulmonary blood. At the moment of birth, this communication needs to stop. If it doesn't close, the baby has a hole in the heart." says Dr. Freudenthal.
Dr. Freudenthal was inspired by a green avocado branch while camping with his friend Malte in the Amazon region, that would not burn in a fire. They had used the branch as a mold for their first invention that would be able to close the holes in children's hearts. The invention was a coil, a piece of wire wrapped onto itself. "It maybe doesn't look so fancy to you now, but that was our first successful attempt to create a device for this major problem." says the doctor.
After successfully treating patients with their coil, Dr. Freudenthal and his wife, Dr. Alexandra Heath, felt that whenever they go they had an opportunity to make a difference. But Dr. Freudenthal had grown up in the Andes and had noticed that patients what lived in higher altitudes, specifically in Bolivia, had larger holes in their hearts. The first coil could successfully treat only half of the patients in Bolivia. So their search to a solution was back on.
After many trials, they received help from Dr. Freudenthal's grandmother's indigenous friends who told stories by weaving complex patterns in looms. The skill of weaving had helped them with their new device. "We take this traditional method of weaving and make a design made by a smart material that records shape. It seems this time, the weaving allows us to create a seamless device that doesn't rust because it's made of only one piece. It can change itself into very complex structures by a procedure that took decades to develop."
Surgery is not needed for this procedure because the device enters the body through natural channels and doctors only have to close the catheter through the hole. The device expands, places itself and closes the hole in the heart. But what is even more amazing about this procedure is that it only takes 30 minutes!
You can find Dr. Franz's talk about this procedure in the vieo below.
