What is an artificial heart?
The creation of an artificial heart that would be a successful long -term substitute for the human heart has been the aim of medical research for many decades. Until now, various doctors and scientists have developed some machines that can take over the heart function while the patient is waiting for transplantation or people who cannot receive transplantation. This mechanical heart can be placed in the body, so many people can have an extension of life, but do not last forever.
Before immersion in the history of artificial heart, it is important to understand what it is and what it is not. This mechanized device is not a heart/lung or lung machine. However, such machines are extremely important in medicine and are used regularly.
Artificial hearts should be considered different from ventricular assistance equipment and left ventricular equipment (defects and LVAD). They can be implanted to take part of the heart work that retains a certificate amount of function. Are also useful when bridging the gap when patients are on waiting liststransplant, and can help help the heart to continue working at a more efficient pace for a period of time. However, it should be understood that a real artificial heart is implanted in the body and takes over the work of a failing heart. The term of failure usually means that neither a left or right chamber can function enough to support life.
In the middle of the twentieth century, several people worked to create an artificial heart and the first implant was made for dogs in 1957. It was not extremely successful and the dog survived only a few hours after the implantation. Research on total mechanized hearts continued on dogs and in the mid -sixties doctors also began to develop Lvads, while the first successful surgery of LVAD was performed in 1966.
A lot of trial followed a mistake, and some of the main concerns included rejection of different components of artificial hearts and the rate of survival, which was significantly low for both LVAD and for the overallthe heart. In the age of 80, two artificial hearts that continue to be used. These are Jarvik and Abiocor. Both were used in many operations to prolong life. Abiocor was considered an improvement in Jarvik because his energy source was not outside the body. Jarvik requires external involvement to the energy source, but it has been shown that in long clinical trials it is more effective than Abiocor with longer survival in some patients.
Another artificial heart developed in 2000, which shows a great promise, was created by Dr. Alain Carpentier of France, and this heart is in the tests to determine the efficiency and safety. Unlike its predecessors, Carpentier's model uses some animal tissue in its design, which could be effective in rejection. Other scientists continue to work on other models, because even if some patients survive several years after receiving an artificial heart, others still not. In some survivors, the quality of life may be poor and life expectancy can be short.
There are some concerns about creating artificial hearts. It remains how to drive the heart, and improvement in different energy cells can eventually alleviate these concerns. Yet the human heart must work constantly and even with advanced energy techniques, it is difficult to know how long the artificial heart can last as soon as it is in the body. Yet there is a lot of need for artificial hearts, because some people are not entitled to heart transplants and others need and die to wait for the heart.
There are several speculations about whether advances in regenerative medicine would eventually make the search for a perfect artificial heart outdated. Hope exists that once scientists will be able to use their own patient tissue new heart for those who need them. This would eliminate concerns about rejection and solve the problem of lack of transplants to satisfy demand.