First boy is getting permanent artificial heart

Medical Success: Boy receives permanent, artificial heart. A background report.

The news that Roman doctors have successfully used a permanent, artificial heart to a 15-year-old boy (15) in a ten-hour operation has caused a stir worldwide. For the first time, an artificial heart was implanted in a teenager, which not only serves to bridge the gap to an imminent heart transplantation.

For the first time Kunstherz in a teenager under 16 years
The boy, due to a muscle disease did not have the opportunity to come to a waiting list for a donor organ, so that the doctors at the children's hospital „Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesu“ decided to the solution with a permanent artificial heart. As part of a ten-hour operation, the medical team headed by Antonio Amedeo set the boy an artificial heart, which should remain permanently in his chest. „It is the first time in the world that a child under the age of 16 receives such a heart“, explained Antonio Amedeo to the dpa.

Artificial hearts as support systems for the heart
So far, permanent art hearts have been used exclusively by adults. There are different variants that can serve both to support and to replace the natural heart. While the term artificial heart gives the impression that diseased hearts are completely replaced, in reality this is usually not the case. As a rule, artificial hearts merely serve to support the natural heart, whereby they usually only refer to one of the two heart chambers. These ventricular assist devices (VADs) work in a similar way to a hydraulic pump and help relieve the heart of cardiac muscle weakness or maintain the circulation. Depending on the ventricle to be relieved, left heart support systems (LVAD), right heart assist systems (RVAD) and, in the case of support of both ventricles, biventricular support systems (BiVAD) are differentiated.

Artificial heart completely housed in the chest
The 15-year-old boy was admitted to the Children's Hospital „Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesu“, owned by the Vatican and considered one of the most prestigious children's hospitals in Italy, a four-centimeter-long artificial heart implanted in the left ventricle. As part of the ten-hour operation, the medical team around Antonio Amedeo severed the sternum of the patient lengthwise (median sternotomy), then insert the artificial heart, to implant the influence cannula in the heart of the left ventricle and the outflow cannula to join the ascending aorta. To reduce the risk of infection, the doctors have inserted the artificial heart completely in the chest.

Mini artificial heart weighs only 92 grams
Only last year, Heidelberg physicians succeeded for the first time in completely fitting a 92-gram mini-artificial heart in the patient's chest, which considerably reduced the risk of infection. These used to weigh more than a kilogram and could not be stored in the chest due to lack of space. The 92 gram mini artificial heart is the fifth generation of the so-called DeBakey heart, which was developed in the 90s by the heart specialist Michael DeBakey in collaboration with the US space agency Nasa. It is able to completely replace the function of the left ventricle and allows the patient a relatively normal life due to the complete accommodation in the body.

Electricity as a risk of infection
Only the power supply must still be external in this model, which, however, one of the biggest problems in the use of artificial heart continues to exist: the risk of infection by the necessary external power supply. Although the Italian doctors have come up with something special here. The power supply to the artificial heart takes place via a plug behind the left ear and a battery attached to it which is worn by the boy on his belt, explained Antonio Amedeo. However, an infection via the external power source can not be ruled out here either.

So far, doctors have been reluctant to comment on the success of the operation
Although the Italian media already „The miracle of the heart of Rome“ To admire, the doctors are so far restrained in their assessment of surgical success. It is not clear how the boy's already ill organism will work with the new artificial heart. But if everything else goes well, the boy could live with the battery heart instead of a few months 20 to 25 years, stressed Antonio Amedeo. Artificial hearts have been used by adults for almost 15 years as adults „bridging“ used before a heart transplant. (fp, sb, 05.10.2010)

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First child receives permanent artificial heart

Picture: tokamuwi