new artificial heart doesnt beat

[Sasha]

Artificial Heart of the Day

Jun. 15, 2011


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Artificial Heart of the Day: Doctors at the Texas Heart Institute have built an artificial heart out of existing implants and “a moderate amount of homemade stuff.” Its most dramatic feature: it doesn’t beat.
The heart uses two pulseless pumps, and it was able to keep a 55-year-old man alive for a month before his disease finally took his life. Another test heart has been implanted in a calf, who is doing fine.
Aside from the obvious problem of a patient being mistaken for a vampire or zombie due to lack of heartbeat, this artificial heart could be an improvement over existing, pulsing models.
[wired]

[cu247]

Really interesting. It could help lots of people if it works correctly
But zombie threats would be sky high...and the paramedics would be confused

[Bright Banana Beard]

At least we are getting close to being a vampire or zombie.

[∞]

How can you tell the person is dead?

[Sasha]

i guess the same way as now...

(the only way an non-doctor is allowed to officially declare someone dead is if their head is completely separated from their shoulders )

[PhoenixAsh]

didn't it also need to be at least 2 inches from the neck?

[Spawn of Stalin]

Interesting fact, I never knew that. Almost makes me hope I someday witness a decapitation just so I can say "I'm calling it....9:55" in an ultra-cool voice.

On-topic: What are the potential benefits of a pulseless heart?

[PhoenixAsh]

Interesting fact, I never knew that. Almost makes me hope I someday witness a decapitation just so I can say "I'm calling it....9:55" in an ultra-cool voice.

On-topic: What are the potential benefits of a pulseless heart?

well...the most obvious one is that you get to live when the old one stops beating.

The second one is that there is less mechanical failure because it has just one moving part.

[Sasha]

from the original source article

The doctors say the continuous-flow pump should last longer than other artificial hearts and cause fewer problems. That's because each side has just one moving part: the constantly whirling rotor.[...]However, the only reason blood must be pumped rhythmically instead of continuously is the heart tissue itself.
"The pulsatility of the flow is essential for the heart, because it can only get nourishment in between heartbeats," Cohn says. "If you remove that from the system, none of the other organs seem to care much." [...]
"When man first tried to come up with machines that flew, he looked around and saw bats and birds and butterflies and mosquitoes," Cohn says. "Everything had wings that flapped."
But what works in nature is often not the only mechanical solution, or even the best one.
"When they saw that you could create wind, and that wind over a fixed wing was a great way to provide lift, then the whole field shifted," Cohn says. "There are very few flying machines in modern times that have flapping wings. And I think this is the same intellectual leap in pumping blood or pumping fluids."

[Broletariat]

This makes me wonder if this continuous design is more effective at cardiovascular endeavors than the traditional pump model of a heart.

If so sign me up man.

Also, I'm fairly ignorant about why high blood pressure is bad (is it an indicator of harm, or is the high blood pressure the harm itself?). If it is the latter, then couldn't this pump slow down and speed up in order to maintain appropriate pressure?

[jake williams]

Also, I'm fairly ignorant about why high blood pressure is bad (is it an indicator of harm, or is the high blood pressure the harm itself?). If it is the latter, then couldn't this pump slow down and speed up in order to maintain appropriate pressure?

My understanding is that high blood pressure is related to two main problems. One, it stresses the heart. Two, it can create clots (strokes, aneurysms etc.).

The body needs the same "amount" of blood whether your arteries are clogged or not, and so the heart can't simply reduce pressure, as far as I understand.

[Broletariat]

My understanding is that high blood pressure is related to two main problems. One, it stresses the heart. Two, it can create clots (strokes, aneurysms etc.).

The body needs the same "amount" of blood whether your arteries are clogged or not, and so the heart can't simply reduce pressure, as far as I understand.

Well problem number 1 would be relieved with this new continuous flow heart at least right?

Also how would this thing impact heart attacks?

[The Vegan Marxist]

^It certainly could be regulated a lot easier and maintained than, say, an organic heart.

[Sasha]

didn't it also need to be at least 2 inches from the neck?

an hand wide i learned so yeah, about 2 inches at least

[Pretty Flaco]

i thought dick cheney had one of those? i remember on the colbert report, colbert made jokes about him joining the "hordes of the living dead" or something like that.

[Sasha]

he has the thing thats the basis of this.
what he has is one pump that assists the normal heart.
in the new set up they use two that are put in place of the heart.

[Tablo]

Why has a non-pumping artificial heart not been used in the past though? Seems like something that would have been researched. Guess with so many things to research in the medical field a lot of stuff may be underfunded

Damn, in the past 6 or so years I've been studying politics and following technological advancement a lot has changed. Maybe with the advancement in technology I will be able to choose when I die rather than expect the inevitable at around 70 to 100 years(my family is VERY long lived).

[RedRise]

Well, if this works more safely and effectively than the old model I call it an improvement.
That said, I wouldn't want to be without a heartbeat. It kind of wrecks all those literature references to people's heartbeat increasing in moments of danger or excitement. And speaking of which, given an increase of heart rate is a natural part of things like fight-or-flight response, what happens if the body/brain wants the heart to speed up and finds its got one of these gadgets instead?

[Luisrah]

I suppose the brain is connected to the heart.
The brain sends an electrical impulse to the heart that makes it speed up.

In this case it will start sending the blood more quickly, just doesn't start beating faster.

I don't know how it works, I'm just guessing. I suppose people with this heart probably don't get that feeling in the heart when they are in danger, or nervous. Poor people, maybe they don't get that squeezing feeling in the heart when they are in love.

[Dogs On Acid]

Soon we will have artificial organs replacing organic ones. I'm all for it.