The power of modern technology

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plantsg858 on June 26th, 2021 at 10:22 UTC »

That’s amazing I would be scared someone gonna hit it or something talk about having your heart on your sleeve

willdawizah1983 on June 26th, 2021 at 11:08 UTC »

My brother had something very similar but on a much smaller scale. He had to make sure batteries were charged and a consistent reliable power. Showering and simple tasks were very difficult for him. Im happy for this fellow, my brother wasn't so lucky. I miss him very much.

Edit: thank you for the awards. My brother had congestive heart failure as side effects from chemo (non-hodgkins lymphoma). We were all sure that he would find a donor within 2 years. It was a tough journey and incredible loss, he passed before he turned 30. This story gives me hope for all those suffering from heart issues. ❤

Edit 2: cancer sucks and the new possible cancer vaccine is a step in the right direction for those with genetics that tend to lead to cancer. Support cancer resesrch whenever possible! Sorry for being slightly preachy.

Edit 3: I didn't expect for this comment to blow up! I appreciate the awards and support! Just another reason why I love the reddit community. Lets continue to raise awareness on heart disease and cancer by supporting the right organizations and donations to those that need it! Every little bit helps!

Edit 4: the kind words from everyone is really encouraging! Im sorry to hear so many have loved ones or are suffering from this affliction. Lets hope technology advances enough to provide a longer and fruitful life!

VVhiteVVizard on June 26th, 2021 at 12:57 UTC »

Cardiologist here. What’s amazing is that even this pump, called the Total Artificial Heart, is largely a thing of the past. Due to the nature of the device and how it pumps blood (through a roughly similar mechanism to a heart chamber squeezing), there is risk of blood clotting within the pump and being sent to the rest of the body, one of the most devastating complications being stroke. This device is still used in rare instances when patients have failure of both the right and left ventricles.

Nowadays, we use pumps that accelerate blood through specially coated centrifugal pumps. There is never stasis of blood as these deliver continuous flow. As such, the clotting risk is now very very low. And they don’t have a pulse (continuous blood flow), although the device we use now has an artificial pulse it creates by intermittently changing flow RPM. All these pumps require blood thinners regardless because in the end blood is contacting a foreign material and that leads to clotting risk.

There are a lot of other nuisances to these pumps but it is pretty amazing how far we have come and how patients can go from not being able to walk to the bathroom because they are so short of breath to being able to perform relatively vigorous exercise. Patients will have these pumps implanted for end-stage heart failure that is no longer manageable with medications. They are either used as a bridge to heart transplant, as getting a donor doesn’t happen overnight, or they are used as “destination therapy” meaning the pump is implanted knowing the patient will eventually die with it.

These stories are very heartwarming and a great example of how far we have come. Sometimes I forget because I’m surrounded by it everyday that this is surreal still to a lot of people.