The weavers found a pattern similar to one used in commercial devices. The pattern, chakana, also known as the Andean cross, is a simple cross with a superimposed square, the physicians wrote.

“Symbolically the chakana is said to represent pure symmetry of a universe without beginning, end, center, or direction,” the physicians wrote. “Practically, it was an already-familiar pattern and technique that could be used to weave a device of variable size using a single strand of material without soldered or welded connections, so it could not corrode or break.”

The biomedical engineers and physicians determined nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy would be the ideal material for the devices. Nitinol, the physicians noted, has elasticity and structural “memory,” that can easily be collapsed and inserted through a catheter to the heart. Upon insertion, the material can expand to its original shape.

“The devices are easy to deploy, which minimizes procedure time and child exposure to imaging radiation, and their elasticity makes them minimally traumatic to friable vessels and structures of young children,” the authors wrote.

The team trained 40 craftswomen in a laboratory to perfect their weaving skills and reproduce the double-disk net design. The chakana pattern is repeated 120 times per device. A circular mold is used with cylindrical structures arranged so that size and design are fixed.

“The true beauty of the devices lies in the simplicity of the design and deployment and in being a precise application and effective solution to a prevalent lethal health problem in the population of children we care for,” the authors wrote. “By producing handmade devices, the Aymara indigenous people also transfer their culture and skills to the production of medical devices and affirm the relevance of their cultural heritage—integrating the past with the present, culture with science, and the prospect of death with the hope of life. Together with the Aymara people, we are writing a new story inside the children who carry these woven microstructures in their hearts.”