The Future Is Here Today...Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Singularity

The AbioCor Artificial Heart

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by Andrew Kessel on June 30th, 2009

Earlier on Singularity Hub, we took a detailed look into the magic of heart replacement surgery (and even growing hearts with stem cells).  It’s a great way to tack on a few extra years to patients who are suffering from heart failure, but what about the other people who are not eligible for a donor heart?  Patients who are in immediate danger of death and have end-stage heart failure on both sides of the organ cannot currently be implanted with donor hearts but they can be given the AbioCor artificial heart.  The AbioCor system uses hydraulic pressure to pump blood between two chambers, simulating the effect of the human heart.  Could the artificial heart put an end to long waiting lists for donor organs?

artificial-heart

The Abiocor artificial heart

The artificial heart has come a long way since its first clinical use in the 1960’s.  Wireless technology and an internal microprocessor make the AbioCor better than its predecessors.  The entire system is implanted during a procedure where the diseased heart is cut out and the arteries are clamped onto the thoracic unit.  Wires are laid in the body down to the abdomen, where the controller and battery are implanted.  Wires then connect the controller to a receiver planted in the chest called the TET, or Transcutaneous Energy Transfer.  Wearing a similar device on the outside of the skin allows for an external battery to power the system without having wires breaking through the patients skin.

The internal battery allows the patient more mobility, as the external power source can disconnected for up to 45 minutes as the patient bathes or conducts other activities of that nature.  Being hooked up to the power isn’t that bad either, as a fanny-pack portable battery system can provide up to four hours of continuous juice before needing to be recharged.  Despite all these seemingly beneficial quality of life improvements, there are still some drawbacks.

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TransMedics: Transplanting a Beating Heart

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by Andrew Kessel on June 26th, 2009
transmedics_heart_transplant_beating

Insert heart here

You’ve heard a bit about heart transplants and they’re no piece of cake, but now there’s a company out there trying to make it a little bit easier.  It’s not an off-color SNL skit, but it is a heart in a box.  TransMedics Incorporated has designed a system that allows doctors to transplant still-beating hearts up to 12 hours after they are removed from the donor (compared to the standard 4 to 6 allowed by current technology where they freeze the heart).  Yup.  Scientists have invented a box that keeps the heart beating outside of the body.  Holy crap!

This Massachusetts based company has raised $27.6 million in series B funding.  Their proprietary machine pumps warm, nutrient-rich oxygenated blood through the donor heart until it is ready for transplant.  The heart is kept in a sterile compartment that simulates the conditions within the human body, allowing it to function normally while outside the body.  Along with the life-support systems, the TransMedics machine also has the capabilities for performing the necessary diagnostics that doctors require before the heart is transplanted through the use of a wireless monitor.  Take a look at the video and prepare to… woah.

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TransMedics: Transplanting a Real Beating Heart

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by Andrew Kessel on June 20th, 2009
transmedics_heart_transplant_beating

Insert heart here

You’ve heard a bit about heart transplants and they’re no piece of cake, but now there’s a company out there trying to make it a little bit easier. It’s not an off-color SNL skit, but it is a heart in a box. TransMedics Incorporated has designed a system that allows doctors to transplant still-beating hearts up to 12 hours after they are removed from the donor (compared to the standard 4 to 6 allowed by current technology where they freeze the heart). Yup. Scientists have invented a box that keeps the heart beating outside of the body. Holy crap!

This Massachusetts based company has raised $27.6 million in series B funding. Their proprietary machine pumps warm, nutrient-rich oxygenated blood through the donor heart until it is ready for transplant. The heart is kept in a sterile compartment that simulates the conditions within the human body, allowing it to function normally while outside the body. Along with the life-support systems, the TransMedics machine also has the capabilities for performing the necessary diagnostics that doctors require before the heart is transplanted through the use of a wireless monitor. Take a look at the video and prepare to… woah.

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The Miracle of Heart Transplants

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by Andrew Kessel on June 17th, 2009

Take a moment and think about your heart.  None of that lovey-dovey crap, this muscle is all business, beating over 2.5 billion times in the average person’s life.  It pumps blood an average of 12,000 miles per day, every day, for your entire life.  And when it decides to stop, bad news ensues.  That’s where the heart transplant comes into play.  When all else fails and the heart cannot be saved, doctors don’t give up hope or just say sorry, they replace that bugger with a new one.  The truly miraculous procedure of heart transplantation goes into the center of the body and replaces what was traditionally considered to be the most important organ.

An Average Day

An average day for heart transplant specialists

Modern day heart transplants are normally conducted by donations from recently deceased or brain-dead donors.  The heart is taken out of the donor and given a potassium chloride injection to stop the heart from beating.  It is capable of surviving outside of the body for about 4-6 hours.  In this last year in the United States, there were about 2300 successful heart transplants (3500 worldwide) while 800 U.S. patients died while waiting for a suitable donor.  More than half of U.S. heart transplant patients are between 50 and 70 years old.

The road to successful heart transplants was a bit of a rocky one.  The first heart transplant was conducted in 1964 when a monkey heart was placed in the chest of a dying man.  This, of course, raised a great number of ethical considerations.  Unfortunately, the man’s life was only prolonged for about 90 minutes, but the procedure set the stage for future operations between humans.  The first intra-human operation was performed in 1967 with a heart from a brain-dead donor.  The patient lived only 18 days before succumbing to pneumonia.

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