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15-Year-Old Boy Fitted With Robotic Heart

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."

2 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Have a heart. by BlueKitties · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Spare the robotic heart'd overlord jokes.

    (DISCLAIMER: I can make these kinds of jokes because the story ended well.)

    --
    "Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad." [Ecclesiastes 7:3]
  2. Re:25 years is permanent? by tool462 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    a disorder. As in, not ordered correctly.

    I believe the PC term is "differently ordered."