I noticed an article on LVADs in the Ottawa Citizen, drawn from the Times of London. I searched for an electronic version of the piece, but couldn't find it. Here's a few excerpts...
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Surgeon, NASA team up on heart pump
Dr. Michael DeBakey... has scored another triumph in a ground-breaking series of operations in which six patients with failing hearts have been implanted with a tiny pump created by Dr. DeBakey and NASA.
The device is similar to an artificial heart being developed at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute by Dr. Tofy Mussivand and Dr. Wilbert Keon. However, the Canadian heart differs in a couple of key areas - it aims to be the first totally implantable artificial heart. That means there are no wires protruding through the body which lead to infection. As well, the Ottawa device simulates the action of the normal heart and generates a pulse. Non-pulsatile machines lead to complications in other organs.
Thanks to luck Dr. DeBakey may yet be able to pull ahead of his competitiors. While other teams were trying to design assist devices that mimic the heart, NASA engineers realized that, as long as it could pump 10 litres of blood without damaging blood vessels, the machine needn't use the same pulsating action as the human heart. NASA and Dr. DeBakey came up with a screw design based on technology used in space shuttle fuel pumps. While the screw is turning, liquid is drawn in one end and pushed out the other.
The device, the size of a fountain pen, is powered by a battery pack worn around the waist. The wire which links the heart ot the battery pack comes out through the abdomen. This is the first axial flow pump to be used in heart patients.
Dr. DeBakey is now working on a fully implantable version. Last fall, at the German Heart Institute in Berlin, the pump was inserted in a male patient. Five other patients also benefited. One has since died of an unrelated complication, and one has had the device removed because his heart improved. Time will tell whether the rest will pull through, but so far they have been able to lead relatively normal lives.
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I find this article a bit confusing in that the writer references earlier on the apparent fact that non-pulsatile devices lead to complications in other organs, yet no comment on this fact with respect to the human implant trials in Germany. If (and that is a BIG if) this hurdle could ever be solved, this device would be the clear winner, since it is much smaller and simpler than the HeartSaver. I have no doubt they can devise a fully implantable model, but the whole thing is useless as a permanent implant if it screws up your other organs. Something to keep a close eye on, as I'm sure World Heart is doing.
No question, there is something kinda nice about having a pulse, don'tcha think? :>) |
