Australian man successfully receives titanium heart after 6-hour operation.
Australian man successfully receives titanium heart after 6-hour operation.
A New South Wales man with heart failure lived with the artificial heart for over 100 days while waiting to be matched with a heart donor.
In short:
A mechanical heart has been implanted in a New South Wales man who was experiencing severe heart failure.
He has become the first person in the world to be discharged from hospital with the titanium heart.
What's next?
Doctors say the invention will likely be an alternative for donor heart transplants in the future.
Wait, I though the man survived a record 100 days and then got a normal heart. Is this the same guy or a different one?
I think the guy that had it for 100 days went back to being the science officer.
The universe does seem rather badly designed these days
The headline makes it sound like the heart was a reward. "Congratulations on your operation, here's your prize: a titanium heart."
It's for being wounded as a result of enemy action while in space
I hope no software is involved.
software update is available, heart will be restarting now
Serious answer to a facetious reply: I’d imagine there has to be some level of software involved if it’s pulsing, even if it’s rudimentary or low level. I also wonder what it does in terms of the bodies demands such as during physically intense activities. I’d guess that it doesn’t which, along with the 4 hour battery life, probably answers why it’s a stop gap and not an alternative at this point. Still awesome though.
I watched a talk regarding a pacemaker/defibrillator incorrectly shocking a woman because she was an edge case (being younger and pregnant). She sought help from doctors who, as you may guess, knew nothing about the software. The manufactures ghosted her when asked for information, let alone source code. Some of them are wireless, vulnerable to attack. Being in control of any software running inside our bodies is an important issue to consider.
From the article...
It is powered by an external rechargeable battery that connects to the heart via a wire in the patient's chest.
The battery lasts four hours and then alerts the patient that a new battery is needed.
This is amazing, but it would certainly be a pain in the ass to have to wake up every four hours during the night to change your battery for your damn heart. And if the alarm couldn't wake you, you'd just fucking die or something.
Exposed wires? Does this mean I could overclock my heart with a bench power supply?
I’m imagining some sort of an Iron Man situation
Hopefully it can just run off wall power while at home. It would suck to change in the middle of each night.
Just one step closer to:
Fascinating, and awesome for people in need, but a whole new level of battery anxiety.
I hope that it has some sort of self-charging mechanism that is entirely human-powered. You would think that they'd design it that way.
But even then, batteries and capacitors eventually go bad. So they'll still have to be replaced every few years.
I don't imagine you get enough power from a gyro to be worth the added complexity. Plus of course if you never stopped working you would need an alternate way to charge it which means you still need an external power supply even if only for emergencies.
I wonder if the pump runs at a constant rate instead of pulsing... Imagine playing tricks on people because you've got no heartbeat!
Old artificial hearts used to do that. It works but pulsing is better for your long term health IIRC.
Should be using Australium
Found the tf2 player
Why only 4 hours though? How is the capacity of that battery? Also, how does thies heart react to increased demand like a normal heart does?
I actually know this! I used to work on an LVAD controller about 10 years ago. The technology is largely similar.
The pumps are centrifugal, they have to maintain blood pressure, and are largely waterproof.
The pumps spin with a brushless DC motor controlled by PWM. Depending on the specifics of the motor the RPM can be between 8,000 and 22,000. Because of the limitations of battery technology, you're stuck with using a LiPo battery. LiPos are annoying as all shit to deal with. You have to charge them carefully, discharge them carefully, and they're pretty big.
To give you an idea - FPV racing drone batteries can last several minutes: https://www.getfpv.com/batteries/mini-quad-batteries/cnhl-ultra-black-series-1050mah-150c-6s-lipo-battery-xt60.html On a really carefully tuned racer, you can get maybe 5 minutes out of a quad that would use that battery.
Edit: I was incorrect, the first battery I provided was not the battery that would be used in racing. LiPos are what I wanted to share. The battery now highlights what I wanted to.
Calling bullshit on that battery info RE: FPV drones matey.
That's a 4000mAh 4s Li-Ion pack. No racers use Lithium Ion, and definitely not 4AH.
That's a long range FPV pack, and it'll go for about half an hour to an hour on an appropriate LR quad.
A typical racing machine will run on 6s 1300-1500mAh Li-Po packs which are significantly lighter and smaller than your provided link, as well as higher voltage.
Can't wait for the day when I'll be able to get a titanium pancreas!
I want to believe you're joking, but I can't quite believe it.
;)
