Meet The Worlds First Heartless Human!

About the only thing I see different with this is maybe they integrated a pair of VADs into a single unit instead of implanting two separate units. That might be a lot less awful to implant, having watched the training films long ago it seemed really brutal the way they do it now.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Bedlam

What happened to gramps, he's just sitting there staring. Quick, replace his battery.

It has a godawful low battery alarm. Very hard to miss.

originally posted by: Brotherman
Thank god! I thought I was going to open this thread and see a pic of Dick Cheney. What an awesome thread.

I remember hearing that Cheney was fitted with this same device while W was still President but I see no mention of that. I remember because they made a point of him no longer having a heartbeat and the jokes about "Darth Cheney".

a reply to: Bedlam

It has a godawful low battery alarm. Very hard to miss.

Do we have an idea what a system like this costs? Is this guy on it for free with a Beta version? How many attendants are required to monitor him? Is he at home or still in the hospital?

Thanks Beldam, you obviously know about this.

a reply to: TrueBrit

That actually sounds like more of a risk for a stroke, like atrial fibrillation.

Well.. this is nice and all. Being an ijjit, i always assumed heart was responsible for creating new blood.

Now for conspiracy time.

Imagine in the not so distant future everyone gets a fake heart with internal battery. The only way to charge this battery is from official charging stations every other day. Next thing you know if you do not follow the NWO rules or "they" just do not like you, they will revoke your access to this charging port.

That's incredible! Without the heart beating out electromagnetic signals I wonder how this alters a person's "electromagnetic signature" . It would make you stealthier, but then again who can hear a heartbeat without the right equipment?

a reply to: Asynchrony

Whether or not a person would be stealthier rather depends on what medium they are being observed through at the time. And even if a method were devised for tracking human beings by their unique bio electrical emanations, I doubt an electronic pump with a hardcore battery for a heart would make them LESS of a target for that manner of scope or monitoring device. Probably more if anything!

That said, if all you are talking about is whether or not they would be harder to HEAR because of it... I do not know anyone who can hear heartbeats at distances of more than a handful of inches. I can usually feel a heartbeat before I can hear it, and only when in very... Intimate circumstances, shall we say. My hearing is superb, as long as there is no cross noise of course. Too many signals equals noise for me!

a reply to: TrueBrit

Yeah, I was referring to hearing the human heart with the human ear, not finding it with the help of technology. I imagine that some carnivores can sense things like thumping heartbeats and stress hormones in their prey. And, as you said, intimate situations are prime for feeling, hearing and sensing the heartbeat. To elaborate on the "electromagnetic signature" that we emit with every heartbeat, not being able to feel a pulse at any of the arterial points while at a standstill or during exercise would make for an odd personal experience. I can sprint quite fast for short distances and doing so always pushes my heartbeat to a high level that affects my breathing. I can actually feel the pulse in my lungs so much so that if I don't consciously breathe to suit my exercise it can feel somewhat disruptive, like a tug-of-war with my heart and lungs. That being said, I wonder how much faster one could run without the extra stresses of the expanding and contracting in the veins and arteries that accompanies the heart. I wonder how different hard breathing would feel as well.

a reply to: Bedlam

Thanks so much Bedlam! Your input made this really interesting.

How long do think it will be before devices do away with heart transplants?

The only problem I see with this devise is that stand alone, should it fail, their would probably be no warning or pain.


Meaning, if a way to address that issue was successful and functional this devise could extend life.

Any thoughts?

originally posted by: Hefficide
a reply to: OrionHunterX

Didn't Dick Cheney live for a number of years with such a device?

And Donald Rumsfeld?? Probably most neo-cons too! '

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Bedlam

It has a godawful low battery alarm. Very hard to miss.

Do we have an idea what a system like this costs? Is this guy on it for free with a Beta version? How many attendants are required to monitor him? Is he at home or still in the hospital?

Thanks Beldam, you obviously know about this.

Well, for a double VAD Heartmate II transplant, you're talking about $750k in parts and hospital costs. 3 weeks to a month in the hospital on the first phase, and you'll be in the ICU for that part. Most move to an off-site apartment next to the hospital for 3 months or so. Eventually you "graduate" from the extensive training and care and go home, but with frequent trips back and a home health nurse. By the end of the first year, it's all grown into place pretty good and you are the expert of HM2, but up to then it's fully sterile dressing changes and constant antibiotics and not going anywhere much. Even then, you can get out and go to movies and the like but long trips are out for the most part.

A lot of that would go away IF they could get fully internal setups, like HM3 was supposed to be. The original plan for HM3 was a new low power motor and an internal Li-ion pack, with one of those nifty Soljacic wireless power chargers so they could rig your home and you could move around freely in the house with no batteries at all, and have a vest charger if you needed a top-up in the field. Didn't happen.

Having that drive line (or lines, if you have 2) come through your body is a bad thing, but it's all they've got right now.

a reply to: zombicide83

I wonder if this invention would suppress the production of adrenaline. No more adrenaline rushes? The reason I suspect it is because I think that in a fight or flight situation that a person gets increased blood flow from the heart to the adrenal glands, and then the adrenals produce their adrenaline. For that matter, I wonder how the rest of the glands would function with the new device? It's still quite an interesting development. It might have helped my grandad.

originally posted by: Blaine91555
a reply to: Bedlam

Thanks so much Bedlam! Your input made this really interesting.

How long do think it will be before devices do away with heart transplants?

I think the best use of them right now is what they call bridge-to-transplant. They weren't seen as a permanent lifestyle, but that's starting to change as they improve. If you had a fully internal setup, I think a lot of elderly heart transplant candidates might opt for the electronic version. But the current ones are better than being dead, they actually function pretty well, it's that bat-vest and the driveline that's the issue. If the power problem was solved, you'd actually have a pretty decent option.

Too bad Orbo was a scam.

originally posted by: Kashai
The only problem I see with this devise is that stand alone, should it fail, their would probably be no warning or pain.

You generally get a warning. The device controller has a fail-safe fallback if the main electronics fail and the alarm is unmistakable. Sane wearers have a backup controller and several backup power packs. The controller monitors the motor in the heart, and you generally get a lot of warning if something is hinky. The bearings in the heart no longer make contact at all (it's some sort of magnetically suspended rotor). The primary failure is to get blood clots, that's hard to fix.

eta: if you unplug both batteries by mistake, you will definitely fall over with a thud.

Meaning, if a way to address that issue was successful and functional this devise could extend life.

Any thoughts?

It does. Long enough to get a transplant. Now, if you could put one in and grow a new heart in vitro from the guy's stem cells, that would be a way to keep you going until your new heart was ready.

originally posted by: InFriNiTee
a reply to: zombicide83

I wonder if this invention would suppress the production of adrenaline. No more adrenaline rushes? The reason I suspect it is because I think that in a fight or flight situation that a person gets increased blood flow from the heart to the adrenal glands, and then the adrenals produce their adrenaline.

You have it backwards. Your hypothalamus and pituitary gland tell the adrenal gland to swing into action, and the heart responds to the adrenaline.

Not so much in this case, obviously.

a reply to: Bedlam

Thanks for the rundown. Expensive, hi maintenance, limited mobility.

Having that drive line (or lines, if you have 2) come through your body is a bad thing, but it's all they've got right now.

I understand… infection, getting "ripped" (ouch).

Do these things hum? Like a vibration the user feels all the time?

originally posted by: intrptr
Do these things hum? Like a vibration the user feels all the time?

You can definitely hear it whine with a stethoscope. At least you don't tick-tock like someone with a mechanical heart valve.

originally posted by: OrionHunterX

Would man be able to live without his vital organs replaced by technology in the future?

Quite possibly.

Would that mean we will become a civilization of robots with human brains?

In essence, that's what we already are.

But how did they they address the cardio pulminary part (CO2/O2 exchange) in a CONTINUOUS flow system?! Fascinating!