Prioritizing health is crucial on Earth, but it takes on heightened importance in the unique environment of space. Extended space travel exposes humans to conditions that can adversely affect blood pressure, bone density, immune function, and many other aspects of health. Recognizing this, two NASA scientists collaborated 20 years ago, aiming to develop a method for remotely monitoring the heart health of astronauts during prolonged space missions. This technology has since evolved and is now being implemented to monitor the health of heart failure patients on Earth. It is expected to become commercially available in late 2024.
NASA engineers Dr. Rainee Simons, a senior microwave communications engineer, and Dr. Félix Miranda, the deputy chief of the Communications and Intelligent Systems Division, used their combined expertise in radio frequency integrated circuits and antennas. They created a miniature, implantable sensor system designed to track an astronaut’s vital signs in space. Developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland with initial funding from the agency’s Technology Transfer Office, the battery-less and wireless sensor is small enough to be implanted and transmit a person’s health data to a handheld device.
“You’re able to insert the sensor and bring it up to the heart or the aorta like a stent – the same process as in a stent implant,” Simons explained. “No major surgery is needed for implantation, and operating the external handheld device, by the patient, is simple and easy.”
Following the patenting of the invention by Glenn Research Center, Dr. Anthony Nunez, a heart surgeon, and Harry Rowland, a mechanical engineer, licensed the technology. In 2007, they formed Endotronix, a digital health medical technology company that is now an Edwards Lifesciences company. Endotronix focuses on proactive heart failure management, offering data-driven solutions aimed at helping physicians identify potential dangers, leveraging the original NASA technology. Endotronix’s primary monitoring system is known as the Cordella Pulmonary Artery (PA) Sensor System.
Dr. Nunez discovered the concept through a technical journal, recognizing its potential applications in medical technology. This system has shown promise in helping manage heart failure, with several clinical trials demonstrating its effectiveness. Patients participating in the trials have reported improvements in their quality of life.
Based on the results from Endotronix’s clinical trials, demonstrating the system’s safety and efficacy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued premarket approval for the Cordella PA Sensor System in June 2024. The system allows clinicians to remotely assess, manage, and treat heart failure in patients at home, with the objective of minimizing hospitalizations.
“If you look at the statistics of how many people have congestive heart failure, high blood pressure… it’s a lot of people,” Miranda stated. “To have the medical community saying we have a device that started from NASA’s intellectual property – and it could help people worldwide to be healthy, to enjoy life, to go about their business – is highly gratifying, and it’s very consistent with NASA’s mission to do work for the benefit of all.”
