A cardiologist from Bolivia is creating devices to cure heart defects using an ancient weaving technique.

Worldwide nearly one out of every hundred children are born with a congenital heart disease. They can vary from a defective vessel and leaky valves, to a hole in the heart.

In Bolivia, ancient weaving traditions have come together with today’s technology to create a device that not only saves lives but also minimizes the post-operative recovery in children.

Traditional Aymara weavers repeat an Andean Cross or “chakana” symbol up to 120 times to craft the device, called Nit-Occlud ASD-R.

Our Game Changer came up with the idea for the device. Meet Dr. Franz Freudenthal.

Dr. Freudenthal and his team perform around a hundred surgeries a year with a 99.8% success rate in children. The use of the device has been approved by regulatory agencies in Canada, South America and the European Union.