How Does the Heart Work?

The artificial heart works on July 2, 2001, a mechanical principle from the United States.

How an artificial heart works

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The artificial heart works on July 2, 2001, a mechanical principle from the United States.

Chinese name

How an artificial heart works

Types of

Mechanical principle

Appear

United States

Time

July 2, 2001

The heart is like the engine inside the human body, which drives all parts of the human body to operate normally. In essence, the heart is a

The average adult's heart pumps blood at 60 to 100 beats per minute. If you've read articles about the heart, you know that the contraction of the heart is divided into two phases:
In the first stage, the left and right atria contract at the same time, sending blood to the left and right ventricles.

In the second stage, the left and right ventricles contract together, ejecting blood out of the heart.
The heart muscle will then relax in preparation for the next heartbeat. In this way, the blood fills the heart again.

For patients implanted with the AbioCor heart, their left and right atria will also beating at the same time, but an artificial heart with two ventricles replaced at the same time can only expel blood from one ventricle at a time. As a result, artificial hearts alternately deliver blood to the lungs and other parts of the body, rather than delivering blood at the same time as a natural heart. The AbioCor artificial heart can pump more than 10 liters of blood per minute, and the blood volume can fully meet the needs of patients for a day of activities. The AbioCor artificial heart developed by Abiomed is a very precise medical instrument. Its core device is a hydraulic pump that presses working fluid from one side to the other. In order to understand how AbioCor artificial heart works, let's first understand the various components of the system:

Transplantation of AbioCor artificial heart

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Abiomed for 15 heart transplants as part of a clinical trial. So far, 12 of them have been completed. These operations have been performed at medical centers in Houston, Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia. The FDA reviewed the results of each operation to determine the future prospects of the AbioCor device. The device, which is valued at $ 70,000 to $ 100,000, if successful, will mean it can prolong patient life without complications, and the FDA will approve it for more cardiac medical centers in the United States. In fact, according to several news agencies, Abiomed will apply to the US Food and Drug Administration to promote the device. The device will be used to treat patients with end-stage heart failure under a so-called "humanitarian device exemption" clause.
Raman Gerry said that the volunteers who initially underwent surgery should be "the worst patients." The FDA and Abiomed managers have developed standards that define which patients can be the first to undergo artificial heart surgery. The patient must meet the following conditions:

At the end of heart failure, life expectancy is less than 30 days. Natural heart transplants cannot be accepted. There is no other effective treatment. In addition, this grape-sized device must fit the patient's chest. To determine if the device is suitable for the patient, the patient must undergo a CAT scan and an X-ray chest radiograph. A computer-aided design (CAD) program was then used to virtually remove the patient's own heart and implant it into the AbioCor heart. If the computer program shows that the device is just right, the doctor can start transplanting an artificial heart. Nearly two months after the operation, the management of the hospital and AbioMed did not disclose the name of the first patient to undergo the operation. But on August 21, 2001, it was revealed that the first person ever to receive an artificial heart transplant was Robert Tours, a Kentucky resident who worked for an early telephone company during his lifetime. Although Toures was infected after the operation and required ventilation, his doctor reported that the transplanted artificial heart had been functioning normally.

Here's what happened before Tours:

He has Grade 4 heart failure.
Suffering from severe double ventricular failure.
Was rejected by a heart transplant center.
He has also undergone coronary artery bypass surgery.
He has suffered from various heart diseases.
Also suffering from diabetes.
There are 2 million to 3 million heart failure patients in the United States, and 400,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Research Center (NHLBI), heart failure causes 39,000 deaths each year. Most patients diagnosed with heart failure are expected to survive five years, and they usually need a heart transplant to continue their lives.

In 2003, 2,143 heart transplants were performed in the United States alone. But every year thousands of potential recipients die while waiting for a heart transplant. Doctors have always encouraged the public to donate organs, but AbioCor can save many patients who cannot accept a human heart transplant or are still waiting for a heart transplant.