• Question: If you implant a heart would it work? If it does work then how does it?

    Asked by natrualme to Lisa, David, Mus, Tess, Yue on 28 May 2012. This question was also asked by khizarsiqbal, niamhw53.
    • Photo: Lisa Fitzgerald

      Lisa Fitzgerald answered on 28 May 2012:

      Hi @naturalme,

      People with very ill hearts go on the heart transplant list and can have it replaced with the healthy heart of a patient who has died and donated theirs. This is a complex operation but is often successful although the patient has to take a lot of drugs for the rest of their life.

      Artificial hearts have been developed and a few implanted but they were initially fairly unsuccessful, didn’t last long and caused significant pain to he recipients. However, in the last few years researchers have developed new versions and a few people around the world have been implanted with them. These devices are basically two pumps, often driven by fans, which replace the left and right ventricles but not the upper chambers of the heart. Some are driven by hydraulic air flows out side the body but the newest are continuous flow pumps. Unlike the heart these pumps move blood aroiund the body continuously rather than in a pulsing fashion. The patient therefore doesn’t appear to have a pulse but is alive! these devices keep the patient alive and sometimes they can go home to continue living their lives, but they are not long term solutions and will fail relatively quickly. Most patients will therefore still require a heart transplant.