15-Year-Old Boy Fitted With Robotic Heart 241
An anonymous reader writes "What do you do when a 15-year-old boy is close to death and ineligible for a heart transplant? If you're Dr. Antonio Amodeo you turn to an artificial solution and transplant a robotic heart, giving the boy another 20-25 years of life. The Italian boy in question suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which rapidly degenerates the muscles and eventually leads to death. Having such a disease renders the boy ineligible for a heart transplant, meaning almost certain death without an alternative solution. Dr. Amodeo found such an alternative in the form of a 90-gram, fully-robotic heart that took 10 hours to fit inside the boy's left ventricle. It is a permanent solution offering as much as 25 years of life and is powered by a battery worn as a belt."
Re:25 years is permanent? (Score:3, Interesting)
the disease he has
This is a side note, but muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder. I know a lot of people call that kind of thing a 'disease' but that term implies a virus, bacteria, or other etc external agent (even the government spraying Agent Orange) came along and caused it. That doesn't happen with MD. He was just made that way so his condition should be labeled accordingly: a disorder. As in, not ordered correctly.
Repo Men? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What is this Logan's Run? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchenne_muscular_dystrophy [wikipedia.org]
He's got Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Living to 40 is exceptionally rare, and most people who have this disease don't live to be 30. Sadly, by the time he gets anywhere near 40, another system that cannot be replaced/augmented as easily will probably have failed. The pump they installed will almost certainly outlast him, sad as that concept is.
Still, he was just a few days from death according to the article. Even if he only makes it a few more years, it's a few more than his natural heart could have kept him alive to see, and maybe there will be enough of an advance to patch up whatever other systemic failures lie in his future. I sincerely hope that in 25 years he's looking at a replacement to the pump, but this is sadly probably the last one he'll ever need.
Re:25 years is permanent? (Score:3, Interesting)
I know a lot of people call that kind of thing a 'disease' but that term implies a virus, bacteria, or other etc external agent (even the government spraying Agent Orange) came along and caused it.
Actually no. Historically "dis ease" as in lack of ease, or discomfort. Which would seem to apply to heart failure. Every modern definition applies either at one end to a unique set of symptoms, or any unique pathological condition resulting in those symptoms.
Its like arguing that people often talk about species of insects, therefore they can't talk about species of bacteria.
Yeah, 25 potential years but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a progressive, irreversible muscular disorder where the muscle cells literally pull themselves apart due to the lack of a key membrane-stabilising protein, Dystrophin.
So now this boy's heart can't give out for 25 years, you're then only consigning him to die of suffocation as his diaphragm does.
Oh no, ventilator. Well, let's wait for his oesophagus, colon and eye muscles to go...
But he's still alive, just locked into an immobile, artificially ventilated body with a heart that will never stop.
That seems worse than the natural alternative to me.
Re:I guess I'm not surprised (Score:3, Interesting)
A friend of my sister ended up in a state like that. I don't recall the disorder right off, but it wasn't pretty.
The onset was like the common cold. That became pneumonia. He was hospitalized, and over the next few days, he ended up in a vegetative state. He had no sort of motor control at all. It was to the point where he couldn't even twitch a finger or toe. He couldn't speak. He couldn't see because his eyes wouldn't focus or track, or even blink. He could hear, but couldn't react to anything. He was fully aware, trapped in a completely useless body.
It took them a little while to discover the disorder. All they could do was treat him with IV antibiotics. After about 3 months, he could sort of mumble words, but they were indistinct. After 6 months, he had regained his motor skills, but his body had atrophied so much he couldn't do much. Walking was out of the question. Even doing something as easy as typing was beyond him for a while. There was a pretty good period of physical rehabilitation before he was able to move like a normal person.
He described it as absolute hell. He was fully conscious when he was awake, and the difference between awake and asleep wasn't visible to anyone observing him. For the first months of it, he said he wished he could have just died. After he recovered, he wasn't all rays of sunshine either. It took him a while to work through his depression that set in while he was in his vegetative state. Even after that, he wasn't himself.
I wouldn't wish that on anyone, regardless if it was a temporary condition like his, nor living the last months of your life.