I used to work there as an engineer, Dr Freudenthal was by far the best person I've ever known.
This minimally invasive approach also helps to avoid cultural barriers to treatment: manipulating a heart is considered an act of desecration on the human soul by some indigenous communities in Bolivia.
"By not operating with an open heart" says Dr Freudenthal, "We are also respecting the will of many patients who would not want their children to be operated otherwise."
The concept and entire article are both nifty.
I wonder if this, or a variant, would be appropriate for septal defects? My daughter had open-heart surgery at a very young age (~11 months) due to an atrial septal defect. It would be astounding if this were a viable option to avoid such drastically invasive surgery.
My dog had this procedure done when he was a puppy which saved his life. The standard procedure is to crack open the dog's chest and tie this pathway off. This is the old way of doing it; we don't do this to humans anymore as there are a lot of risks involved and it takes a long time to heal. The much more expensive but safe procedure is to go through the femoral artery. He now has a platinum coil in his heart and no longer has a femoral pulse because they tie it off.
Holy shit, that is awesome.
>"The most important thing is that we try to get really really simple solutions for complex problems," Dr Freudenthal told the BBC.
I still think the coolest part is that this knitted thing is inserted into your groin and it ends up unfolding in your heart.