Re: Was the 'heart pacemaker' a 'space spinoff'?

From: kadet ken (murphydyne_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 10/22/04 

Date: 21 Oct 2004 18:00:53 -0700

"Jim Oberg" <jameseoberg@houston.rr.com> wrote in message news:<LJSdd.38005$Rf4.2173@fe2.texas.rr.com>...
> Question -- most space-spinoffs seem to be mythical, how about these
> claims from a nice Jim Voss school speech, including pacemakers
> and Velcro?
> "Most astronauts don't bring anything back to earth except knowledge, Voss
> said, and a lot of technology, including Velcro, the pacemaker and a
> computer all came from the space program."

Good question.

Everyone knows about the velcro canard (enchainee?), although I have
no doubt that the significant purchases of velcro by NASA helped to
provide some of the initial capital for the industry to grow to the
point today where it's effectively ubiquitous. (Same thing for
photocopiers. Huge demand for documentation drove R&D, and NASA
helped to pay for some of the early advances that have given us the
machines we have today.)

The pacemaker one triggered a bell in the back of my brain, so I went
to my space library and came up with some heart-related references:

Programmable Pacemaker
Technology - NASA-developed technologies involve space
microminiaturization, bidirectional telemetry for space
communications, and longer life batteries for spacecraft electric
power systems.
Commercial Use - System consists of the implant and a physician's
computer console containing the rogramming and a data printer.
Communicates through wireless telemetry signals.
KSC Publication DE-TPO
Spinoff 1996

Implantable Heart Pump
NASA's expertise in tiny yet highly reliable pumps may provide an
alternative to the large, external eart pumps used by patients
awaiting a heart transplant. JSC has comnbined forces with the Baylor
College of Medecine and famed heart surgeon Dr. Michael Debakey to
make use of the center's expertise in developing the Ventricular
Assist Device. The new generation of heart pump already is undergoing
implant tests in animals and, if they continue to go well, a first
human implant may come soon. The pump would allow critical heart
patients a much more convenient alternative to the heart pumps
currently in use.
FS-1995-08-004JSC

Heart Monitor
NASA developed advanced electrodes used for monitoring the hearts of
space shuttle astronauts was exclusively licensed to Q-Med Inc. for
use in their Monitor One ambulatory heart monitor. [A guy at work has
one, or something similar, subsequent to a heart attack]
Spinoff 1985

Cardiac Monitor
NASA & UMinn research into impedance cardiography as a means of
astronaut monitoring measures impedance changes across the thorax
electronically, reflective of cardiac function and blood flow from the
heart's left ventricle into the aorta.
Spinoff 1996

Cardiac Monitoring
The Bio-Z.com [.com=cardiac output monitor] noninvasive hemodynamic
monitoring system uses Impedance Cardiography (see above) to calculate
12 hemodynamic parameters, replacing pulmonary artery catheterization.
 Developed with JSC SBIR grant. The machine looks an awful lot like
the one they had at the doctor's office when I took a stress test
before my Zero-G flight.
Spinoff 2001

I'm sure more stuff can be found online.

While NASA may not have developed the pacemaker, their research has
certainly helped to advance the state of the art in medical heart
technology. I don't think I'd begrudge Mr. Voss's nutshell example.

Relevant Pages

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