科學天地：無線心臟泵 代移植手術

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　■奧克蘭大學生物工程中心的比代希望，無線心臟泵最終能取代心臟移植，救活更多病人。 網上圖片

　新西蘭科學家研發出一種無線心臟泵技術，據稱可拯救數千人性命，並成為心臟移植手術以外的一種選擇。

　奧克蘭大學科學家表示，無線心臟泵利用患者皮膚產生的磁場，將電力傳送到心臟泵。傳統心臟泵使用有線傳送，很多時候會引起感染。

　奧克蘭大學生物工程中心的比代表示：「我們希望這種裝置能成為病人的首選，不用再作心臟移植。」比代又向新西蘭電台表示，該大學已授權美國醫療公司MicroMed，將有關技術結合到該公司的心臟泵上。

　比代指出，無線泵利用皮膚傳電技術，沒有直接的電子聯繫。病人體外的一個線圈會產生磁場，埋在病者鎖骨的第二個線圈會接收磁場訊號，感應產生10至25瓦特的電流，無線泵每分鐘可平均泵7公升血液。

　當病人等待施心臟手術時，心臟泵能為病人續命，但有線泵的線會經過病人的胃部和胸部，40%病者會發生嚴重或致命的感染。線路亦有可能折斷，限制病人的動作。

　比代希望心臟泵最終能取代移植。心臟移植涉及創傷性手術，而且還要用大量藥物防止排斥。他又指，全球每年約有100萬人死於心臟病，但只有3,000宗心臟移植手術。

　奧克蘭大學旗下推廣公司TETCor的行政總裁馬爾帕表示：「希望兩年內在病人身上作臨床實驗，這種無線泵未來10年間，每年可植入5萬病人體內。」

　馬爾帕又指，以往的無線泵會製造過多熱力，導致病人「火燒心」，新技術能控制能量在恰到好處的水平，不會再有熱力問題。 法新社

　■羅國偉 資深翻譯員

New Zealand scientists develop wireless heart pump

New Zealand scientists have developed the technology for a wireless heart pump they say could save thousands of lives and offer an alternative to heart transplants.

　University of Auckland scientists said their technology uses magnetic fields to transfer power to heart pumps through a person's skin rather than using wire cables, which often cause serious infections.

　"We would very much like for it to be the preferred choice for patients to be able to choose this type of pump over a heart transplant," said David Budgett of the university's bioengineering institute.

　"The university has licenced the technology to US medical company MicroMed, which will integrate the wireless technology with its own heart pumps," Budgett told Radio New Zealand.

　Dr David Budgett said the pump uses a technology known as transcutaneous energy transfer, where magnetic fields transfer power through the skin without direct electrical connectivity.

　It uses a coil outside a person's body to generate a magnetic field. A second coil placed inside the body─near the collar bone─picks up the the field and creates power─between 10 and 25 watts─for the pump.

　Dr Budgett said the pump could pump on average 7 litres of blood per minute.

　Heart pumps are used to keep patients alive while they await heart surgery but the wire cable which goes through their stomachs and chests cause serious─sometimes fatal─infections in about 40 percent of patients. The wires can also break and restrict a patient's movement.

　Budgett said it was hoped the wireless pump could eventually replace transplants, which involve traumatic surgery and require large amounts of drugs to avoid rejection.

　He added about a million people died of heart failure worldwide each year while there were only about 3,000 heart transplants carried out.

　Simon Malpas, the chief executive of TETCor, the university company set up to market the technology, said it was hoped to start patient trials within two years.

　"These wireless heart pumps could be implanted in about 50,000 people each year around the world within 10 years," Malpas said.

　Previous attempts at making wireless heart pumps produced too much heat and would have resulted in "cooking a person from the inside", Malpas said. "The new technology was able to deliver exactly the right amount of power, eliminating the heating problem," he said. AFP