3Galardi

No Pulse Heart Summary

This article was riveting to say the least. Dr. Billy Cohn and Dr. Bud Frazier have been using trial and error to perfect an artificial heart that could last more than a few months, and wouldn't require the patient to sit next to two large, loud air pumps to pump the blood around the body. They realized that there were huge problems with the artificial hearts that pumped the blood throughout the body. The main problem was that they wore out extremely quickly. They couldn't find a plastic/metal heart that could survive longer than a few months pumping that long. What they realized was that the heart didn't need to beat in order to move the blood throughout the body. In a particular case, considered the first "human trial," Craig Lewis had a disease called amyloidosis which caused a build up of abnormal proteins. This gunk attacked the heart, and made it so that he only had 12 hours to live. They figured they'd try to save him by putting two ventricular assist devices that were meant to aid the heart, not replace it. By putting the two in to act as the two ventricles, the devices whirred at 10,000 rpm and moved the blood consistently throughout the body. Craig recovered, and could get up and speak after the surgery. Unfortunately, Craig died a month later, because the disease attacked his other organs. They found that the devices they inserted were working perfectly though, keeping him alive with no pulse. Thus, the idea for the Heartmate II was born. Luckily though, while he was alive, Craig helped the doctors think of improved ways for insertion and combination of the two valves. There were a few other instances of human success. One man who spoke little English had two LVADs put in, was instructed to return for check ups, but didn't for many years. When he returned, they found he had no pulse, but was living with no health problems. He was perfectly fine. Another women was living a perfectly normal life with a similar device. She took care o free two kids every day, and the only thing that was different was she wore a backpack with a battery for the prototype of the Heartmate. Clearly, it can be a viable option to use two magnetically driven chambers to consistently pump blood throughout the body.

Finally, the doctors got to test an actually Heartmate II. They took a calf named Meeko, living fairly normally, and transplanted his beating heart with this no beat device. Meeko lived on perfectly normally without a pulse. Since then, the Heartmate has been FDA approved. It is mostly used as a bridge to transplantation, but it was found in 2008 that over a period of 6 months, patients had a survival rate of 90%, and 85% after a year. Since then, I'm sure the rates have improved as the Heartmate itself has improved. I wouldn't surprised if it was used as a complete replacement of the heart in 10 years in patients who are in need of a heart, and can't get one.

FETAL PIG DISSECTION by Jack Galardi and Jason Mango

(Double) Presentation:

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THE PINEAL GLAND by Jack Galardi

10 x 20 Presentation:

http://portal.sliderocket.com/ARTVO/pinealglandjack