Modern medical equipment makes it possible to make partial or complete replacement of diseased human organs. A sound amplifier for hearing impaired people, an electronic heart rate driver made of special plastic lenses are just some examples of the application of technology in the field of medicine. Biological prostheses are becoming more common, which are set in motion using miniature power supplies that respond to the biocurrents of the human body.
In the process of complex surgical interventions, “Artificial lung”, “Apparatus for cardiopulmonary bypass” and other artificial organs provide invaluable assistance to doctors. They assume the functions of systems undergoing surgery, allowing them to temporarily suspend their activities.
As practice shows, today there are a lot of people suffering from impaired functioning of the heart valves (insufficiency or constriction). There is the possibility of reconstructing or replacing the affected valve with an artificial heart valve. For these purposes, modern biological or mechanical prostheses are used.
The apparatus "Artificial Heart" entered into medical practice. However, he cannot yet completely replace the present.
An artificial heart is a four-chamber prosthesis with a saccular type of ventricles. The model has a right and left half. Each of them consists of an artificial atrium and ventricle. The constituent elements of the latter are the working chamber, housing, outlet and inlet valves. For the manufacture of the body used silicone rubber and layering method. According to the technology, the matrix is immersed in the liquid polymer, removed, then dried. So until multilayer flesh is created on its surface. The working chamber has a similar shape. For its manufacture, latex rubber and silicone are used. The working chamber has a design feature - its wall thickness is different and passive and active sections are distinguished in them. The design is calculated in such a way that the contact of the opposite walls of its working surface is excluded even in the case of a full voltage of the active sections. This prevents the trauma of blood cells. Russian scientists continue to work on the creation and improvement of the accessible design of the prosthesis.
The rather expensive foreign system “Artificial Heart” allows the patient to expect surgery within a year. The device is equipped with a case where there are two ventricles. An external service consisting of a control monitor, a computer is located at the doctors’s clinic. At home, the patient has rechargeable batteries, a power supply. Charging is done from the mains. In this case, the main task of the patient is to monitor the green indicator indicating the state of the batteries.
For the “Artificial Heart” to be used as a constantly functioning apparatus, it is necessary that it:
- had a small size;
- Regulated release in accordance with the needs of the body;
- provided the necessary discharge of blood;
- easily sterilized;
- Provided blood pumping without any sharp jolts, in order to avoid hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells).
Today, only devices that completely replace the ventricles are developed. When transplanted, the two lower heart chambers are connected to the upper (atria). Preliminary amputation of replaced ventricles is performed.
The life expectancy of a patient who was first made a long-term organ transplant was 112 days. Then the artificial heart made thirteen million beats.