Artificial Heart #2 Implanted Successfully

jeffy124 writes: "A second artificial heart has been successfully implanted. The operation was performed Thursday at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY. The same team the implanted the first device also performed this procedure. They also indicated that the first patient, whose heart was implanted July 2, is exceeding expectations."

where-are-the-brains dept

[jeffy124]

certainly not in bin Laden head.

...

[badk1tty]

That would terrify me. But I suppose that's the quality of life, no?

Makes you wonder, though, how active one can be with a device like that in their chest. What happens if you need CPR or something..car accidents..excess excercise.. Normality would be difficult..but for a 70 year old, it probobly already is :)

-bk

Re:...

[Bonker]

What happens if you need CPR or something

Think about that for a second... CPR wouldn't really help someone who didn't have a heart, no?

If your artificial heart stops you just change the battery. If you stop breathing, mouth to mouth *without* Cardio-massage would work just fine.

Re:...

[dsheppard]

I think that these patients are unable (because of varying reasons age, other heath, previous problems etc.) to recieve a new heart and therefore have a rather shortened life expectancy. They chose to help with this research and hopefully be able to live a few months longer.

Exceeding expectations

[Kotetsu]

From the article, it would appear that "exceeding expectations" consists mainly of surviving more than two months. It probably also means not having all the problems Barney Clark had (I'm not whoring so I won't post the first OK looking link off Google). Given that the candidate patients are facing a 20% or less chance of survivng the next month, they'll probably go along with anything. Research like this eventually has to be done in actual people, I just hope it doesn't end up being me or anybody I know.

Re:Exceeding expectations

[jheinen]

From what I've been reading, the first guy is able to walk around and in general feels better than he did before the transplant. Doctors say they expect he will eventually be able to lead a pretty normal life, inlcuding walking a couple of miles, or even going to work.

-Jeff

Great News for some of us!

[Turken]

A friend of my fiancee's family has a very rare heart condition, and is currently on the waiting list for the artificial heart. I'm glad to hear that the transplants are moving ahead, because each one means that this friend has a little more hope that he can lead a mostly normal life someday.