New implant for controlling blood pressure
MAY 20, 2014
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.027942
MIT Technology Review : High blood pressure may one day be treated not with drugs but with an electrical implant. Joining a growing number of other such “electroceuticals” is the 20-mm-long cuff of electrodes developed by Dennis Plachta, of the University of Freiburg in Germany, and colleagues. When wrapped around the vagus nerve in a patient’s neck and coupled with a tiny pulse generator, the device can stimulate changes in the wearer’s blood pressure. Further work is being done to design an intelligent version that can monitor and control blood pressure in real time. A similar device is already being used to treat epilepsy.
© 2014 American Institute of Physics
