HEART TRANSPLANTS

By Casey SchulerAdvanced Physiology 2009

BASIC PHYSIOLOGY•Deoxygenated blood enters right atrium from superior and inferior vena cava•Blood is pushed into the right ventricle•Moves into the pulmonary arteries and returns to the left atrium through the pulmonary veins•Blood is pushed to the left ventricle•Blood leaves the heart through the aorta•The average adult human heart pumps blood at a rate of 60 to 100 beats per minute

BASIC PHYSIOLOGY

HEART FAILURE•Heart failure is a life-threatening condition in which the heart can no longer pump enough blood to the rest of the body•Also called congestive heart failure•Common causes of heart failure:•Coronary Artery Disease - the narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply blood to the heart•High blood pressure

HEART TRANSPLANTS•When the heart no longer can adequately work and a person is at risk of dying, a heart transplant may be indicated•Cardiac transplantation is a procedure of last resort•No other medical or surgical options that will improve the current heart condition

•2200 heart transplants performed every year in the United States•3,500 heart transplants performed every year worldwide

HEART TRANSPLANTS•Lack of available donor hearts has increased research into the use of non-human hearts since 1993. •Xenograft - It is now possible to take a heart from another species•Artificial - implant a man-made heart

•The outcome of these two procedures has been less successful in comparison to the far more commonly performed human donor allograft.

HUMAN HEART TRANSPLANTS

•Organs must be matched to a recipient• The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is contacted and a list of potential recipients is generated•Blood type, size, time waiting, and in some circumstances, severity of disease, are several determining factors.

TRANSPLANT PROCEDURE•New heart is trimmed and prepped•Old heart is removed•Back of left atrium is left in place

•Surgeons begin sewing new heart into place.

TRANSPLANT PROCEDURE•Blood Continues to Circulate through the body by machine pumps.

•Blood flow to new heart is started and it begins to pump through recipients body.

•The most common causes of death following a heart transplant are infection or rejection of the heart•Life-long immunosuppressant drugs are needed to prevent organ rejection

•Transplantation requires a serious and definite commitment to a strict post-transplant regimen of a healthy diet, medication, exercise, and clinic regimen requires changes in their lifestyle

TRANSPLANT POST-OP

•Could save thousands of patients waiting for donated organs•The animal organ, probably from a pig or baboon could be genetically altered with human genes to trick a patient’s immune system into accepting it as a part of its own body.

•They have re-emerged because of the lack of organs available and the constant battle to keep immune systems from rejecting an allotransplant

• Xenotransplants are potentially a more effective alternative.•Xenotransplants could potentially transmit animal diseases to humans and result in epidemics•Ethicality of killing animals in order to harvest their organs for human use•More Research Must Be Done!

XENOGRAFTS

CYBORGS:

THE NEXT GENERATION

THE NEXT GENERATION:AbioCor

The latest fully implantable artificial heart to receive clearance from Food and Drug AdministrationDeveloped by AbioMed2 lb UnitComprises an internal thoracic unit, an internal rechargeable battery, an internal miniaturized electronics package and an external battery packDownsides of the AbioCor are its large size and shorter lifespan.

THE NEXT GENERATION:AbioCor

THE NEXT GENERATION:AbioCor

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