Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

15-Year-Old Boy Fitted With Robotic Heart

Posted by Soulskill on from the stay-away-from-nausicaans,-kid dept.

An anonymous reader writes "What do you do when a 15-year-old boy is close to death and ineligible for a heart transplant? If you're Dr. Antonio Amodeo you turn to an artificial solution and transplant a robotic heart, giving the boy another 20-25 years of life. The Italian boy in question suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which rapidly degenerates the muscles and eventually leads to death. Having such a disease renders the boy ineligible for a heart transplant, meaning almost certain death without an alternative solution. Dr. Amodeo found such an alternative in the form of a 90-gram, fully-robotic heart that took 10 hours to fit inside the boy's left ventricle. It is a permanent solution offering as much as 25 years of life and is powered by a battery worn as a belt."

4 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Re:25 years is permanent? by zaren · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, I believe you missed the part where the disease he has causes the muscles in his body to stop working. It's a fairly safe bet the muscles that work his lungs or digestive system... or pretty much any other part of his body... will stop working before this heart fails. Someone with this disease is "lucky" to make it to twenty.

    --
    Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
  2. I wish I could feel better about this... by cypherpu · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wish I could feel better about this, but I don't. Most of these artificial hearts require systemic anticoagulation. Otherwise, they generate clots, which can travel to the brain and create a series of strokes, ultimately killing the patient.. Systemic anticoagulation brings it's own set of serious problems (bleeding tendencies, tissue changes, etc). My best wishes for this young man and his family.

  3. Sounds like a left ventricular assist device. by Felgerkarb · · Score: 5, Informative
    I think the media is playing up the 'robotic' and cyborg angle a bit.

    I have only read the linked articles, but the description sounds like a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD. This is a pump that helps the heart push blood, rather than replacing the heart, which is what I generally think of when people talk about artificial hearts. It sounds like the innovation here is the size, its use in a child, and the length of time they plan to use it, since it is generally used as a bridge to transplant.

    I think they are optimistic in thinking they can get 25 years, since we really haven't evolved the material science to have implantable devices for that long without provoking clot formation or scarring, but it sounds like they didn't have a lot of options here.

    1. Re:Sounds like a left ventricular assist device. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I was on a LVAD for a couple weeks. Luckily, my ventricle became stable enough to get off before a transplant was needed. I have two artificial valves and an aortic graft. I was told I could only be on the LVAD for 30 days before having a transplant, and I am 31. I can't imagine an LVAD being used to sustain life for 20-25 years. Besides, the actual LVAD machine is quite large, unless they have portable ones that I am not aware of. I can't see someone leaving the hospital with one.