The Introduction of ARTIFICIAL HEART

I guess my title sounds very different for some of you. And it may be familiar to others. In this modern world, we know many have lost their life due to lack of availability of heart for transplantation. Now Doctors have brought a new solution for this life loss. I will give you some interesting details about this artificial heart.

Doctors of TEXAS on march 23, 2011 in the hospital St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) have introduced this ARTIFICIAL HEART. They successfully implanted this CONTINUOS FLOW DEVICE in a patient who was facing imminent death. As the imminent blood flow was provided by the ARTICIAL HEART, which the original heart was disabled to do.

On March 10, 2011 Drs. Bud Frazier and Billy Cohn implanted this mechanical device in a 55 yrs old Houstonian Craig A. Lewis. This device was used as the last attempt to save Houstonian Craig A. Lewis life.

Houstonian Craig A. Lewis was suffering from a rare disorder called Cardiac Amyloidosis. It’s a disease in which the heart is infiltrated by an abnormal protein, which is produced some where else in the body.

Let me give you a brief description on , how the device works. The ARTIFICIAL HEART consists of 2 turbine which act as blood pumps. They replace the 2 side,  removed from patients heart. They act as man-made substitute to Natural Heart. This system was approved by FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and it was off-label.

Important fact, the patient suffering from Cardiac Amyloidosis, cannot be treated by heart transplantation , because the disorder may reoccur in the transplanted heart too.

Houstonian Craig A. Lewis was supported by external blood pump , dialysis machine, and breathing device for about 2 weeks before the doctors were approaching this idea.

As this machine provides continuous flow, it does not produce heart beat or pulse.The TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE has played a great role in the introduction of this continues flow system.

Dr. Cooley, founder of THI said:

"Forty years ago the first total artificial heart was implanted here in a patient dying of advanced heart failure. The device served as a bridge to cardiac transplantation, maintaining the patient's life until a donor heart was procured. Since then, a major focus of research at THI has been the development of a total mechanical heart that could overcome some of the problems presented by the previous pulsatile devices, including patient discomfort. The continuous-flow design of this device promises a major advance in the effort to replace the heart in patients with terminal cardiac failure. I applaud Dr. Frazier and Dr. Cohn for their contributions. This is a further milestone."

This is really a great medical history . We can call it as miracle.As miracle suits it more.