Bionic Human: 1st Fully Implanted Human Heart

InnerCityCaching writes "Doctors at the University of Louisville have removed a patients heart and replaced it with an artificial pump that has no wires to the outside world. One of five FDA approved test implants, neither the hospital nor Abiomed Inc., would confirm or deny the surgery." This is bigger news than it sounds - the older artificial hearts had massive battery and battery needs, while this heart is charged by placing coils on the skin. As we get closer to creating more artificial body parts, the issues of batteries, much like powering laptops for longer times become more critical and the solutions become more intrinsically interesting. Too bad they can't use code morphing to make better use of battery life. *grin*

Comments

Re:Anonymous, indeed

[ethereal]

Hey, don't be knockin' Dick Cheney - without him, nothing would stand between W and the presidency :)

Re:NPR

[rleyton]

In the article itself, it reads:

Abiomed wants to observe a ''quiet period'' with no media comment so the patient can recover with his or her family in private, and so the surgical team can devote all its energy to the operation and patient care, Ed Berger, an Abiomed spokesman, has said over the past several months.

Stressing again that he was not confirming or denying that the implant had taken place, Berger said yesterday that Abiomed and the surgical team had agreed to comment only when they were sure they could ''meet the demands of the press without compromising patient care.''

Whilst this development in heart surgey is exciting, I figure it'd be rather bizarre, and possibly very counter-productive, for the poor patient to become the subject of a (possibly) intrustive press campaign, whilst they battles with their recovery.

Re:"this is bigger news than it sounds..."

[GPSguy]

I spent a number of years in the articifial heart field while at Texas Heart Institute. It really *IS* big news.

All the artificial heart implants in humans have been tethered implants. The patient has had to be tied to a console or power source, electrical or air, with no more than brief respites of untethered activity. The devices have been harsh on quality of life, and a whole host of physiologic functions. They have not allowed normal interaction with other humans, and those few patients who've ventured outside the walls of the hospital were making brief visits away, not returning to the world.

The Abiomed pump is small enough to reasonably be implanted, and reliable enough to expect it to work well. The centers selected for the initial implants have sufficient experience with animal implantation, AND various human procedures of a more mundane variety, to expect them to be able to manage the patients well, indeed.

We're about 9 years behind where I thought we'd get to with a really viable, implantable heart, mainly because of the costs necessary to support this sort of research. It's long overdue.

I suspect that the 125,000 potential patients Abiomed cited in the article may be an understatement. Doesn't matter. If this allows some patients who were dying waiting for a transplant...or who were deemed not good candidates for the scarce resource of a donated heart... a shot at a good quality life and a time extension, this is WONDERFUL news.

Makes me wish I'd stayed in the game.

Batteries

[NTSwerver]

As we get closer to creating more artificial body parts, the issues of batteries, much like powering laptops for longer times become more critical and the solutions become more intrinsically interesting.

Well if the robots in The Matrix can power all of their hardware using humans as batteries, can't we harnace enough of that potential energy in one human to power his/her own artificial heart?

----------------------------

Clients...

[swordgeek]

The reference to code morphing got me thinking.

"Hey Dave, hear you got a new heart. How's it feel?"

"Well I'm pretty tired, but that's probably because I'm using spare battery cycls to run SETI@Home."

NPR

[Trinition]

I remember hearing about this last week on NPR. They said that Abiomed had stated it would take place, but not when -- just within the next week (from the time the story aired).

So they were being vage about it before it happened and are being vague after it happened. Whyy all of the secrecy?

Would you really want a beta test model?

[tenzig_112]

I won't even install a 1.0 video card for fear that my computer will explode. Can you imagine what the beta testers notes would look like?

On several occasions, when I use a cell phone on my left side, I black out. This is unfortunate as I tend to use my phone when I can't get to a land line- i.e. when I'm driving. Have someone look into that.

So, it's not for me. However, Dick Cheney coud use one of these.

Anonymous, indeed

[American AC in Paris]

From the article:

The heart implanted yesterday has a tiny electric motor in it. An implanted battery that powers the motor is kept charged by a system that uses no wires or tubes. Instead, the battery, which can last about 30 minutes without a recharge, gets its power renewed from a coil that transfers energy through the skin.

If it works as hoped, the AbioCor could keep people alive, alert and mobile for years. They would wear battery packs or plug into an electrical outlet to keep their hearts going.

...so basically, if Cheney's Secret Service guys start lugging a bunch of car batteries and extension cords around, we'll have a pretty good idea of who this "unknown" recipient is.

...though I suspect that it would take more than just an artificial heart to make Cheney seem alive and alert...

Re:Worrying...

[Waffle Iron]

How do they ensure a reliable power supply (i.e. uptime...) over some years?

They make the patient sign a contract that forbids them from travelling to California.