Australian and British researchers believe they may have found a way to mend a "broken heart".
They've developed a patch that can be stuck onto the organ to prevent potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmia after a heart attack.
The flexible polymer patch requires no stitches and helps to improve the electrical impulses across damaged heart tissue.
Heart attacks create a scar that slows and disrupts the conduction of electrical impulses across the heart.
Professor Sian Harding from Imperial College London's National Heart and Lung Institute says this disruption to heart rhythm can be fatal.
"Our electrically conducting polymer patch is designed to address this serious problem."
Dr Damia Mawad, from the University of NSW, who led the research team, said the suture-less patch is a big advance in heart attack research.
"No stitches are required to attach it, so it is minimally invasive and less damaging to the heart, and it moves more closely with the heart's motion."
The patch is made from three components:
* a film of chitosan, a polysaccharide found in crab shells that is often used as a food additive;
* polyaniline, a conducting polymer that is grown on top;
* and phytic acid, a substance found in plants that is added to the polyaniline to switch it to its conducting state.
The patch is made to adheres to heart tissue by shining a green laser on it - a patented technique developed at UNSW by Dr Antonio Lauto of Western Sydney University.
It's envisaged heart attack patients will eventually have patches attached to their hearts as a bridge between the healthy and the scar tissue to help prevent cardiac arrhythmia.
Dr Mawad says the patch is still in the very early stages of development and is currently being used for research purposes.
The research was published in the journal Science Advances.
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