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Artificial Heart Recipient Has No Pulse
laggist writes "A heart patient in Singapore has been implanted with an artificial heart that pumps blood continuously, allowing her to live without a pulse. From the article: '... the petite Madam Salina, who suffers from end-stage heart failure, would not have been able to use the older and bulkier models because they can only be implanted in patients 1.7m or taller. The 30-year-old administrative assistant is the first recipient here to get a new artificial heart that pumps blood continuously, the reason why there are no beats on her wrist.'"
The story is light on details, but an article from last year in MIT's Technology Review explains a bit more about how a pulse-less artificial heart works.
"Paramedics/Doctors: Do not write me off as dead. Try to resuscitate"
...but I definitely see the need for a special Medic Alert badge for this.
We'll find out pretty soon now, won't we?
That said, I'm sure the 30 year old with the transplant would be happy to have any extra years. If it kills her at age 50, but keeps her alive until then, it's hard to complain.
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I suspect the battery pack strapped to her side and the scars on her chest might give them a clue this is not a normal emergency call. Its not like a pace maker where its contained within the body completely. Now that I think of it pace makers would cause more issues and they have been around for a while.
Maybe human body isn't required to have a pulse, but it might lead to some weird situations when first-aid personnel or other people try to help you.
Maybe they'll even declare you dead while you're just unconscious, because they nor the machines can feel your pulse.
Wouldn't this cause problems with perfusion? As I understand it, the arteries absorb some of the force of the heart's contraction due to their elasticity, and reuse it when they contract in turn to send the blood to more distal points in the body. It's been suggested that increased arterial stiffness is associated with the development of cardiovascular disease, and it seems like this might cause a similar effect over time. If you're getting an artificial heart, perhaps this point is moot, and from the story, it sounds like she doesn't have a choice, but I wonder if it would be an issue.
It is a solemn thought: dead, the noblest man's meat is inferior to pork.
Oh wait, no she's not. She's fucking BREATHING.
You're all idiots to think doctors, nurses and paramedics can't see if a person is breathing or not.
Citation needed, what with this patient being allegedly being the first recipient here to get a new artificial heart that pumps blood continuously
I think you just proved that what you heard was wrong.
It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.
I don't know, but putting my head on someone's chest and not hearing a heartbeat would be pretty freaky. So -1 for cuddling.
Without the implant, she won't feel anything again. There's no way to put this other than that it's a life-changing event. Many things after this will be different from the way they were before. But generally a life-changing event is to be preferred over a life-ending event.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
according to the MIT review article the continuous flow artificial harts are in fact turbomachines. If you have any details on the particular device used here, I'd be interested to read about it.
imagine jogging and not...feeling the heartbeat. next up: replace lungs with some constant airflow machine.
I wonder what effect this would have on emotional response. There is growing evidence that there is a two-way feedback loop between subjective emotion and bodily affect. In other words, not only does being nervous cause your heartrate to increase, but an increased heartrate makes you feel more nervous. I would be very interesting to see if this pulse-less heart would result in flatter emotional responses.
Something tells me she won't notice.
Well I hope they don't try the defibrillator ;).
How do they power the heart though, and how long does it run "portable".
It might well be that people/animals with artificial hearts are more likely to survive drowning since the artificial heart might still merrily pump away even if the blood oxygen drops low. And when someone finally does get the air into the lungs (and the water out first), there's no need to kickstart the heart - it's already pumping the oxygenized blood.
And how would that be measured (non-invasively)? Blood pressure is read by squeezing off the artery and listening and watching for the various points in the pulse. If there is no pulse, there is no measurement.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
It might be bad. Or it might be better. Maybe your arteries are only flexible because your stupid heart can't provide a steady pressure, and you needed to have flexible blood vessels to help even out the dramatic change in pressures that could damage more sensitive tissues. Maybe plaque buildup is a result of the flexing, and would decreased if the arteries walls didn't contract and trap small bits of plaque. Maybe it is bad for artery health, but your brain and mussels function 47% better so you're willing to put up with it.
Since no one has lived very long on a continuous-flow heart I think any supposed side-effects (detrimental or otherwise) would just be wild speculation. In any case, given the much longer equipment lifetimes it seems like this technology is at least worth investigating; we're hoping to install it in people who would otherwise be dead, and there's a whole slew of detrimental side-effects that otherwise-dead people are willing to live with for the sake of not being dead.