Artificial Heart Recipient Has No Pulse 465
laggist writes "A heart patient in Singapore has been implanted with an artificial heart that pumps blood continuously, allowing her to live without a pulse. From the article: '... the petite Madam Salina, who suffers from end-stage heart failure, would not have been able to use the older and bulkier models because they can only be implanted in patients 1.7m or taller. The 30-year-old administrative assistant is the first recipient here to get a new artificial heart that pumps blood continuously, the reason why there are no beats on her wrist.'"
The story is light on details, but an article from last year in MIT's Technology Review explains a bit more about how a pulse-less artificial heart works.
Should sleep with a sign on chest/back.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Interesting concept... (Score:5, Insightful)
...but I definitely see the need for a special Medic Alert badge for this.
Re:Any systems depend on a pulse (Score:5, Insightful)
We'll find out pretty soon now, won't we?
Re:Blood pressure issues? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Recipe for disaster? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Any systems depend on a pulse (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe human body isn't required to have a pulse, but it might lead to some weird situations when first-aid personnel or other people try to help you.
Maybe they'll even declare you dead while you're just unconscious, because they nor the machines can feel your pulse.
Re:Should sleep with a sign on chest/back.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Or don't try to resuscitate. Wouldn't CPR's compressions be both worthless and potentially damaging?
Arterial contraction (Score:3, Insightful)
No pulse? She's dead! (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh wait, no she's not. She's fucking BREATHING.
You're all idiots to think doctors, nurses and paramedics can't see if a person is breathing or not.
Re:Any systems depend on a pulse (Score:2, Insightful)
Citation needed, what with this patient being allegedly being the first recipient here to get a new artificial heart that pumps blood continuously
Re:What about clotting? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oblig quote (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Any systems depend on a pulse (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Does she feel any different? (Score:5, Insightful)
Without the implant, she won't feel anything again. There's no way to put this other than that it's a life-changing event. Many things after this will be different from the way they were before. But generally a life-changing event is to be preferred over a life-ending event.
Re:In a movie (Score:3, Insightful)
according to the MIT review article the continuous flow artificial harts are in fact turbomachines. If you have any details on the particular device used here, I'd be interested to read about it.
Re:Does she feel any different? (Score:1, Insightful)
imagine jogging and not...feeling the heartbeat. next up: replace lungs with some constant airflow machine.
Embodied Cognition (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Any systems depend on a pulse (Score:3, Insightful)
Something tells me she won't notice.
Re:Any systems depend on a pulse (Score:3, Insightful)
How do they power the heart though, and how long does it run "portable".
It might well be that people/animals with artificial hearts are more likely to survive drowning since the artificial heart might still merrily pump away even if the blood oxygen drops low. And when someone finally does get the air into the lungs (and the water out first), there's no need to kickstart the heart - it's already pumping the oxygenized blood.
Re:Should sleep with a sign on chest/back.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the giant battery with a cable running into her chest might be enough of a clue for most trained medical professionals to figure out that her case is unusual.
Re:In a movie (Score:5, Insightful)
And how would that be measured (non-invasively)? Blood pressure is read by squeezing off the artery and listening and watching for the various points in the pulse. If there is no pulse, there is no measurement.
Re:In a movie (Score:4, Insightful)
It might be bad. Or it might be better. Maybe your arteries are only flexible because your stupid heart can't provide a steady pressure, and you needed to have flexible blood vessels to help even out the dramatic change in pressures that could damage more sensitive tissues. Maybe plaque buildup is a result of the flexing, and would decreased if the arteries walls didn't contract and trap small bits of plaque. Maybe it is bad for artery health, but your brain and mussels function 47% better so you're willing to put up with it.
Since no one has lived very long on a continuous-flow heart I think any supposed side-effects (detrimental or otherwise) would just be wild speculation. In any case, given the much longer equipment lifetimes it seems like this technology is at least worth investigating; we're hoping to install it in people who would otherwise be dead, and there's a whole slew of detrimental side-effects that otherwise-dead people are willing to live with for the sake of not being dead.
Re:Interesting concept... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's got an external power supply with a cable going into the chest is pretty much its own badge right there.
Seriously, what do you think would possibly happen without a bracelet? The EMT's going to arrive and say "Oh hey, here's the problem.. there's a *cable* going into her chest. I'll just yank that out and.. [tug, grunt] There we go!"