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AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Revolutionary membrane can keep your heart beating perfectly forever:
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new device that may one day help prevent heart attacks. Unlike existing pacemakers and implantable defibrillators that are one-size-fits-all, the new device is a thin, elastic membrane designed to stretch over the heart like a custom-made glove and may arrive to human hearts in 10 to 15 years.
They custom made it to precisely fit the shape of the rabbit's heart: First, while the rabbit was still alive, they scanned it and created a 3D model using computer aided tomography. They manufactured the model in a 3D printer, which they used as a mold to create the membrane. After that they took the heart out, applied the membrane, and kept it beating at a perfect pace.
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/wash-u-u-i-sci entists-use-3-d-printer-help-create-prototype-next -gen-pacemaker [stlpublicradio.org]

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