Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Meerbaum, S..
Series of transducers with seven different configurations enable measurement of forces and displacements in heart wall. New transducers small, cause minimal perturbation of heart function and attached and detached without causing excessive tissue damage. All units implanted or removed during single heartbeat, permitting rapid relocation for detail mapping.
Prototype myocardial transducer simultaneously monitors interal force, displacement, and thickness of heart muscle fiber within localized area of heart muscle. Transducer can be placed in area less than 1.5 by 4 mm.
The results of a technology transfer of a miniature unidirectional stress transducer, developed for experimental stress analysis in the aerospace field, to applications in bioengineering are reported. By modification of the basic design and innovations in attachment techniques, the transducer was successfully used in vivo on the myocardium of large dogs to record the change in contractile force due to coronary occlusion, reperfusion, and intervention.