Artificial Heart

Imagine you are laying in a hospital bed connected to multiple machines, IV’s and monitors. The only thing keeping you alive is the heart and lung machine, the team of doctors, nurses and specialist. Even with the help of modern medicine you will only remain alive as long as you stay in that hospital bed; attached to those lifesaving machines. Even with the help of those machines your life is not guaranteed. Now imagine knowing that the only thing that can save your life is a heart transplant, and having to wait your turn on a very long list to get one.

Organ donation provided a new therapeutic path when new drugs and devices failed to reduce the mortality and morbidity rate of patients with such illnesses as cardiovascular diseases. By replacing damaged organs or tissue with a functioning substitute, organ transplantation offers an immediate cure. Unfortunately, this “cure” is never guaranteed because of the high risk of graft rejection and that’s if a suitable donor can be found. Thus, tissue engineering has been the projected new treatment for these problems. Tissue engineering replaces the diseased or damaged tissue or organs with biofabricated counterparts made using the specifications dictated by the features of the specific tissue or organ.

There are two types of artificial hearts, the first being a pump that is connected to the patient’s circulatory system; it maintains life when the patient’s heart is stopped for the surgeons to be able to operate on the heart. The second type is a self-contained mechanical heart that sits completely in the patient’s chest cavity. This second type of heart is known as a “VAD” pump which pumps blood from the left ventricle to the aorta. Most mechanical hearts use a centrifugal pump, which is quieter, uses less energy and lasts longer than the piston type mechanical hearts. The centrifugal pump produces a constant flow of blood around the body; therefore the patient will not have a

Thump, thump… thump, thump… thump, thump. That is the sound of Nature’s most perfect machine, the human heart. It epitomizes the idea of natural engineering through its complexity and contribution to the vessel that holds it. But, can it be synthesized by the species that possesses and depends upon it? With the emerging 3D printing technology in the field of regenerative medicine, the answer may very well be yes. However, a question to consider before humanity embarks on this endeavour: do the life-saving advantages outweigh the various disadvantages?

 Many transplant candidates die while waiting for an organ, whether it be a heart, lung, kidney or liver.  Yes, it is true that thousands of people are saved each year by organ transplantation, yet even more die each year waiting while their organs shut down.  "In perhaps the most dramatic example, the American Heart Association reports that only 2,300 of 40,000 Americans who needed a new heart in 1997 got one." (Mikos and Mooney 2).  The new strategy which seems promising is the development of what Dr. David J. Mooney of the University of Michigan and Dr. Antonios G. Mikos of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston call "neo-organs." (3).  In one aspiring procedure, the patient receives cells that have been harvested previously and comprised into 3-dimensional molds of biodegradable polymers, such as those used to make dissolvable

In the USA approximately 3,000 people are currently on the waiting list for heart transplant, but only 2,000 donors’ hearts become available each year. In the meantime, heart patients awaiting a transplant must depend on mechanical procedures, which can raise the risk of infection, blood clots and bleeding in the patient. Doctor Muhammed M.Mohiuddin a cardiothoracic surgery specialist therefore explains the rationality behind

The bulky external mechanism worked by using vacuum tubes to generate electrical pulses into an insulated wire inserted inside of the jugular vein.34 This allowed the device to deliver shocks to the right atrium and keep the heart beating mechanically.35 The pacemaker could also change the heart rate or even restart the heart itself.36

Heart failure is a condition that weakens the heart muscles and makes it very hard for the body to circulate blood. It affects over five million Americans and is one of the leading causes of death. Out of the five million, five-hundred thousand die each year. Only 5,000 out of the millions of cases actually receive a heart transplant, which is the best way to treat the disease. This means that most people with heart failure never receive the treatment they truly need. Now, doctors in Texas have found a treatment that doesn’t rely on a transplant, which are few and far between.

The new heart that has been donated can fail, if the human body can reject the donated heart if the cardiac allograft vasculopathy develops in the human body system.

In 1967, the world’s first heart transplant was performed (Ehtuish, N.D). With this heart only lasting in the patient for a total of 2 ½ weeks, scientists knew that that they were on the brink of being able to provide a permanent, sustainable heart to a medically unstable patient. In the 21st century, heart transplantation is now considered to be a modern miracle; being able to remove a heart from a no longer living person and transplant it into the body of someone whose heart no longer functions properly. In Australia, “around 1600 people are on organ transplant waiting lists (for an average of) 6 months to 4 years” (Organ Donation & Transplant Foundation of WA, 2011). Each year, there is an increasing amount of people dying whilst on these waiting lists due to the large demand

The artificial heart is a replacement for a heart that is failing or damaged. This Artificial, heart will take over the regular hearts job until a donor is ready to transplanted. The donor usually dies with a healthy heart. This heart will probity be in a healthy condition with no diseases in it . Most likely a victim of a car crash. This artificial heart functions like a normal heart, the heart has 4 parts to it the left ventricle the right ventricle the right atrium left atrium. The two atriums job is to receive and remove the blood from the heart. The ventricles on the other hand full the blood with the oxygen.Blood first enters through the right atrium that has little to no oxygen. The right ventricle pumps it in to the lungs where it

Families that need a heart transplant will be very happy if the transplant works. The negative of the heart is usually it beats about 50 to 70 times each minute, and the heart rate may increase 2- to 3-fold during stress or exercise. The economical disadvantages for the person receiving the treatment Estimates of the cost of the artificial heart include charges for the surgical procedure, device and console, and continuing medical surveillance. These estimates range from a low of $100,000 to a high of $300,000 per patient in the initial year. The stress and lack of exercise will restrict the patients from doing regular exercise because the new heart wouldn’t be able to pump fast enough so it could lower the patients moral. Economical influences consist of the amount of money that is available to the patient so people living in second and third world countries wouldn’t be able to afford the heart. The positive affect for the moral of the patient would be the patient receiving the transplant would be alive and their moral will be high. This will factor the limit of how much sport and everyday activities like going in the pool and climbing because the heart stays the same beat the whole time and wouldn’t be able to get wet a lot. Even though you wont be doing a lot of things you would normally do you can still do activities but with a lower intensity. If you do normal day activities and high intensity running the mechanical or biological heart will cause the heart that you have to have a even more limited life span or even causing the artificial heart to stop functioning. If your artificial heart stops working that will cause you to be rushed to hospital or if you cannot get to hospital quick enough you will have no blood pumping though your

Batteries are essential for the wireless heart monitors to operate. A battery is composed of electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy to electrical energy and consists of a cathode (the positive terminal) and an anode (the negative terminal). The battery needs to connect to the external circuits of the wireless heart monitor, and electrolytes move and cause the electrolytes to act as ions and preform work. There are two ways in which batteries can behave: a primary and a secondary battery. Primary batteries are disposable after one use and secondary batteries can be reused after being charges. In primary batteries once the electrodes have changed during battery use, they cannot b0e changed back. Secondary batteries can be recharged, and the initial make-up of the electrodes can be changed by a reverse-current. Primary batteries are mainly used in devices that require low amounts of energy and are not left on perpetually. Secondary batteries are best suited to devices that are constantly used such as hearing aids and car batteries[1].

An artificial heart is needed to assist the artificial heart to support a failing heart. It is needed to help people who have experienced many heart attacks in a period of time, heart diseases, heart failures, heart infection and blood clots,this is known to cause severe heart failures. People who have had heart failures are given medication but if the patient does not recover, they may require a heart transplant and may require to have an artificial heart while waiting for heart transplant. Another reason you will need an artificial heart because you need blood in other areas of the body, this artificial heart is called a VAD (ventricular assist device). Blood is valuable and important for the body. If you don't have blood pumping around

In the United States the demand for hearts for patients needing transplants outweighs those who actually receive one. A Path Toward Animal-to-Human Transplants, by Craig Hicks, explains a current project that is being explored that could address the issue. Muhammad Mansoor Mohiuddin is the chief of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes (NHLBI), who explains that, “At any given time, about 3,000 people are on the waiting list for a heart transplant but only 2,000 donor hearts become available each year” (Hicks). He goes on to explain how there will never be enough human organs to supply the demand and that means there will be many people who will die before ever receiving the necessary