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Girl's Heart Regenerates With Artificial Assist

Posted by kdawson on from the all-heart dept.

Socguy writes with news about a 15-year-old girl who has become the first Canadian to have an artificial heart removed after her own heart healed itself. "Doctors at the Stollery Children's hospital implanted the Berlin Heart, a portable mechanical device that keeps blood pumping in an ailing heart, so she could survive until a transplant became available. But over the next few months, Melissa's overall condition improved dramatically, and her heart muscle regained much of its strength. After 146 days on the Berlin Heart, Melissa underwent surgery to have the device removed."

21 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Let forth... by siyavash · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, the joke would be too cruel. For god sake, somebody think of the children! :p

  2. Melissa Dorothy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other news, her old artificial heart is to be given to her closest friend.

  3. Sometimes... by Corpuscavernosa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... all that can be said is "that's really fucking cool." Seriously. Good for her. No immunosuppressants. Hopefully a full recovery.

    --
    We figured out a long time ago that it's easier to elect seven judges than to elect 132 legislators.
    1. Re:Sometimes... by stox · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'll second that. In addition, without a transplant, she stands a decent chance of living a long full life. Transplant patients don't last that long, on average.

      --
      "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
    2. Re:Sometimes... by mgv · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'll second that. In addition, without a transplant, she stands a decent chance of living a long full life. Transplant patients don't last that long, on average.


      I think that you are being a bit harsh there.

      Survival figures vary - overall in the USA the five-year survival rate is 71.2 percent for males and 66.9 percent for females. Its better than that in some units. This person's survival after a transplant would be alot higher than this as young people do better on average than older recipiants.

      Over 2/3 alive at 5 years, and actually pretty similar at 10 years - bearing in mind that most of bad outcomes are in the first year, and that this is all causes of death, including deaths that were unrelated to the transplant.

      The main bad thing about heart transplants is not getting enough hearts.

      Having said this, you will see a significant number of people who do not require transplantation due to spontaneous recovery of function.

      They still require two major operations - the VAD insertion and the VAD removal - so its not exactly a walk in the park.

      And the VAD's such as this can have quite significant complications. The are good but not necessarily the only solution.

      Michael
      --
      There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
  4. She isn't the only one... by MacDork · · Score: 5, Informative

    A 13 year old boy recovered without a transplant with the help of one of these things as well.

  5. Maybe by User+956 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe her heart didn't regenerate. Maybe she just has two, because she's a klingon.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
    1. Re:Maybe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...or a timelord?

  6. Re:I want to know why she healed - what caused it by arivanov · · Score: 5, Informative

    Her heart just needed a rest until it heals. There were a few cases here in the UK as well and implanting a parallel pump to assist is now considered a standard procedure in many cases where the transplant was the only option. Especially in kids and especially in cases where the heart has been damaged by inflammation. It is a safe bet really - if it heals good, if it does not the patient has a much better chance to survive until a suitable transplant is found. It is a pity that most pumps can take load only off some portions of the heart and not all of it (too much blood in the coffee subsystem to remember which).

    --
    Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
    http://www.sigsegv.cx/
  7. Praise Jesus! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Our God is indeed a God of Mircales and Wonders. The hand of the great Healer is clearly at work for this sweet girl.

    Thank you, Jesus! Praise be to your precious name.

  8. Common occurence : apparentely 1 in 3 child recove by aepervius · · Score: 4, Informative

    Quote from the article you cited :

    As one in three children recover from myocarditis on their own, the medics decided to wait and see if Jack's own heart could grow strong enough to work on its own without the need for a transplant.

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  9. House M.D. by Antarius · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gregory House, eat your heart out! Er, wait...

  10. Re:is this that special? by compro01 · · Score: 4, Informative

    or is it only under certain conditions that weren't met this time?

    presumablely her heart just needed a reduction in workload to allow it to heal, so they used this neat gadget to temporarily assist it until it was fully functional again.

    --
    upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  11. Praise be to science! by typidemon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Without whom this little girl would have died. Oh, congratulations to Jesus for getting around to saving the little girl's life.

    I'd imagine that if more people had donated money to the church, Jesus would have been able to get to her sooner rather than later. Jesus loves us, but he needs money. So get off of your chair and donate some money now, so her little friend might be saved.

  12. I wish they had given my Rachel one... by RoboJ1M · · Score: 5, Insightful

    20th December 2006 and I'm watching my girlfriend Rachel die from sudden congestive heart failure.

    I remember thinking, "Why isn't there a machine to pump the blood so her heart can rest?"

    I hope this thing gets everywhere to save other people and their partners.

    J1M.

    1. Re:I wish they had given my Rachel one... by TheThiefMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My god some of these anonymous guys are mean.

      I hope all of you never have to watch someone you know die, I really do.

    2. Re:I wish they had given my Rachel one... by Lemming+Mark · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's awful that you had to go through that experience. I can't even imagine how you must have felt, but you have my deepest sympathies. Please take no notice of the anonymous replies to your comment - they're really not even worth reading. Some idiots actually think they're being clever by displaying their ignorance.

      I'm no doctor, but I guess this technology would not be suitable for use in all cases, and that some patients still require more conventional treatment by other means - but hopefully that will keep advancing too. It's amazing to see progress like this being made in medicine and I too hope that it can help many more people.

      I extend my sincere condolences for your loss and my best wishes for you.

      Sincerely,
      Mark Williamson

  13. Re:Let forth...Pffaaa! by WwWonka · · Score: 4, Funny

    Like many slashdotters, I've had my heart broken over and over

    ...realizing once again that the 22 year old beautiful blonde girl with huge boobs on MySpace that just sent you a friend request is really your fat unemployed neighbor Ned?

  14. Re:is this that special? by myc · · Score: 4, Informative

    actually, the human heart has very poor healing capacity. This is why ischemic heart disease eventually kills you; your damaged heart heals by scarring, which leads to decreased cardiac output and eventually apoptotic or necrotic cell death of cardiomyocytes.

    IANAHRBMWI (I am not a heart researcher but my wife is)

    --
    NO CARRIER
  15. Re:Let forth...Pffaaa! by somersault · · Score: 5, Funny

    Meh - as long as he has decent boobs too then it's okay

    --
    which is totally what she said
  16. Re:Acute illness by eam · · Score: 5, Informative

    Congratulations. You managed to guess the truth. It might have been easier to just read the article, but you managed to figure out what was going on anyway.

    The second sentence in the article:

    "Melissa Mills arrived at Edmonton's Stollery Children's Hospital last year after a sudden illness made her critically ill and a candidate for a heart transplant."

    It wouldn't be slashdot if people didn't ask questions that were answered by the article ;-)