Life without a pulse (new artificial heart)

[NightGod]

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Pretty interesting stuff and it makes a hell of a lot of sense once you think about it:
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/13/13702...-offers-hope-of-new-lease-on-life?sc=fb&cc=fp

 

[Ursa]

Nice read. Interesting stuff.

 

[rexxx]

pretty wild stuff.

 

[Kaustikos]

How do I sign up?


And can I modify the wheels? I figure twinturbo-esque wheels that implement a laggier wheel being preceeded by a smaller/low-rpm wheel. 👍

 

[TallScrubs]

How do I sign up?


And can I modify the wheels? I figure twinturbo-esque wheels that implement a laggier wheel being preceeded by a smaller/low-rpm wheel. 👍

I'll add an anti-lag system to the heart...it'll be sweet.

 

[Propylene]

It's bizarre but sort of makes sense. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Kaustikos]

I'll add an anti-lag system to the heart...it'll be sweet.

Get a boost gauge, fmic and I'm sold 👍

 

[911 Turbo]

I wonder if his insurance covered it

 

[Nomdeplume]

This kind of reminds me of what Iron Man had going on (almost). 👍

 

[TOcho118]

Anyone see that movie "repo men"?

 

[StudyShy]

That's pretty cool. 🙂

 

[gettheleadout]

How will surgeons monitor the vitals of a patient with this heart under anesthesia? It seems as if a pulse-less heart makes things complicated. Very interesting read, though.

 

[raltima07]

Thiss is too cool!

 

[mauberley]

How will surgeons monitor the vitals of a patient with this heart under anesthesia?

With robots.

No but seriously, flow sensors.

 

[Kaustikos]

How will surgeons monitor the vitals of a patient with this heart under anesthesia? It seems as if a pulse-less heart makes things complicated. Very interesting read, though.

Same way we monitor flow in anything involving turbines/wheels...pressure. Hook up a boost gauge and watch those psi's FLY!

 

[mauberley]

Same way we monitor flow in anything involving turbines/wheels...pressure. Hook up a boost gauge and watch those psi's FLY!

 

[Mushufasa]

Interesting post! it's really amazing how creatively these physicians found a solution to this problem.

 

[45408]

How will surgeons monitor the vitals of a patient with this heart under anesthesia? It seems as if a pulse-less heart makes things complicated. Very interesting read, though.

The same way they do when you're on cardiopulmonary bypass and have no pulse, heartbeat or EKG rhythm: pulse oximetry and an arterial line.

PS: it's the anesthesiologist monitoring the vitals.

 

[gettheleadout]

The same way they do when you're on cardiopulmonary bypass and have no pulse, heartbeat or EKG rhythm: pulse oximetry and an arterial line.

PS: it's the anesthesiologist monitoring the vitals.

I swear I knew that, but I didn't want to say "anesthesiologist" and then "anesthesia" in the same sentence because I'm stupid and thought it sounded weird. I was just in the OR for 4 hours today, I promise I know the difference between the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. 😳 Didn't know the answer to the question though, I guess this problem would have arisen by now in other cases like that.

Same way we monitor flow in anything involving turbines/wheels...pressure. Hook up a boost gauge and watch those psi's FLY!

With robots.

No but seriously, flow sensors.

Ah, I see. Makes sense.

 

[Whatyousay]

Someone in the comments for the article brought up what seems like a good point:

Wouldn't the constant rotor action introduce enough shear to damage RBCs / other cells as they move through the pumps?

 

[n3xa]

And can I modify the wheels? I figure twinturbo-esque wheels that implement a laggier wheel being preceeded by a smaller/low-rpm wheel. 👍

 

[NightGod]

Someone in the comments for the article brought up what seems like a good point:

Wouldn't the constant rotor action introduce enough shear to damage RBCs / other cells as they move through the pumps?

Considering the following info from the article:

"Cohn and Frazier did not start totally from scratch. They took two medical implants known as ventricular assist devices and hooked them together.
A ventricular assist device has a screwlike rotor of blades, which pushes the blood forward in a continuous flow.
Thousands of people have one of these implanted close to their hearts, including former Vice President Dick Cheney."

I'm suspecting that the answer is no. It seems to be well-proven medical technology just used in a novel fashion.

On the question of how they will monitor people who have this tech, how do you think they monitor someone who's on a Jarvik heart today? You certainly can't use pulse rate since that's being created artificially.

 

[45408]

On the question of how they will monitor people who have this tech, how do you think they monitor someone who's on a Jarvik heart today? You certainly can't use pulse rate since that's being created artificially.

What are you trying to monitor?

You can't use the pulse rate of anyone on a pacemaker either. It all depends what you're trying to monitor. If someone gets short of breath walking around on level ground, then you probably need to turn up their rate. Otherwise, you try to keep it at a fairly low, reasonable level (like 70 beats/min). If you're watching for tachycardia due to a pain response intra-operatively because the patient isn't sedated enough, you could just use a BIS.

Wouldn't the constant rotor action introduce enough shear to damage RBCs / other cells as they move through the pumps?

Probably. You'll make new ones.

 

[NightGod]

What are you trying to monitor?

You can't use the pulse rate of anyone on a pacemaker either. It all depends what you're trying to monitor. If someone gets short of breath walking around on level ground, then you probably need to turn up their rate. Otherwise, you try to keep it at a fairly low, reasonable level (like 70 beats/min). If you're watching for tachycardia due to a pain response intra-operatively because the patient isn't sedated enough, you could just use a BIS.

That was pretty much my point. The question of how do you monitor life signs without a pulse is one that has the same answer as "how do you monitor life signs with an artificial pulse?" It's a moot concern with this new technology because older tech already had to deal with it.