The motors and heart fabric can generate contractions at the rate of a beating heart. Results so far show that the device takes load off the heart yet lets it pump blood effectively.

A fibrous web that contracts and expands quickly could be wrapped around diseased hearts to help them beat longer and possibly recover from their ailments. U.K. researchers developing the material say the approach is less invasive than heart-assist techniques that involve surgically inserting a pump into the heart. The material is made from polyethylene, which is also used to make artificial heart valves. The heart assist device consists of three belts woven through the fabric and powered by small electric motors. The motors generate a pulsing rhythm that draws in and releases the elastic web. Force sensors can coordinate the motors with the heart's rhythm by sensing its movements. This supports the ventricle's action.

“Assisting a diseased heart for a while can help it recover by reducing its load,” says David Keeling, who is developing the device with University of Leeds colleagues Peter Walker and Martin Levesley, and Ben Hanson from University College London. “What's more, our device only covers the heart and does not contact a patient's blood at all,” says Keeling. “That should reduce the need for drugs.”

For people not healthy enough to receive a heart transplant, wearing the web for a while might help them recover enough to withstand the surgery. For others with less serious heart conditions, the web might be enough on its own, they say.

The researchers are also working on using smaller motors so more bands can be built into the device. Future designs will be powered by batteries either implanted into the body, or by transmitting power wirelessly through the skin.