Artificial Heart Technology holds Promise for Alternatives

A new option for patients with heart failure might become available in the coming years. Researchers in Texas are designing a pulseless total artificial heart. Most importantly, this new artificial heart will have intelligence controls that allow the “heart” to adjust to the physiological needs of the body, since the body does not always use the same amount of blood. The device will be “seamlessly integrated with the patient’s body,” using an automatic feedback controller created by a mathematical model of the cardiovascular system. This model is also hoped to have future uses in assessment of blood conditions.

Besides the integrative, responsive functions of this heart, this device is novel in that it is a pulseless heart. Current artificial hearts try to mimic the pulsing mechanism of the natural heart, which leads to problems due to the physical size of a mechanical pump, and failure due to mechanical fatigue. The new device will use two continuous flow pumps, each merely the size of a C battery.

The hope is that someday we might be able to make a fully functional total artificial heart. The device in use now can only be used as temporary bridge until a heart transplant is available. “Heart disease is the leading cause of death” in the U.S., so developments in this area are crucial.

This thinking outside the box and differentiating from just trying to replicate real life might prove to be a big step in cardio research, and is one of the intriguing factors of this article. It says for one, that we realize nothing man-made is as good as the native organs, and that we might have to change our approach to achieve a reasonable quality of life for sick patients. Also, although a heart transplant will probably always be the best treatment for those with heart failure, these new approaches leave the possibility open to future cures or at the least an improved quality of life for all patients that can not receive a transplant. Possibly even, after the cardiovascular system, maybe someday integration with the nervous system will be possible, which could lead to implants like an artificial eye.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/125089.php
(Source: Lisa Merkl, University of Houston)