Artificial heart gadget outside the hospital

    Sten Larkin, a 23-year-old young man who was a patient at the Michigan Frankel University Cardiovascular Center, got the opportunity to celebrate Christmas at home with his family, despite the fact that he had an artificial heart implanted, the functioning of which in a hospital setting depends on the massive Big Blue device, injecting compressed air into the ventricles of a diseased organ.

    In 2007, Stan, playing basketball, felt a malaise in his chest - later in the hospital it became clear that the young man was suffering from dysplasia of the right ventricle, which potentially threatens heart failure. As a result of a more serious examination, the young man was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, which also turned out to be and his younger brother. A defibrillator was implanted into the wall, but unsuccessfully, cardiogenic shock developed, which led to the fact that doctors were forced to replace a diseased heart with an artificial one.

    Such patients, who are in the queue for implantation of a donor organ, are forced to stay in the hospital all the time, being connected to the Big Blue device, which pumps two compressed air directly into the heart’s ventricles through two tubes and directly exits the body. And taking into account statisticsNational Heart, Lung and Blood Institute , according to which every day about 3,000 Americans are in line for implantation, it becomes clear that the waiting time can be very long.

    In June 2014, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of a special mobile gadget that wears like a satchel under the shoulders, called the Freedom Driver, which repeats the functionality of Big Blue, but allows the patient with artificial to move freely with one’s heart without being tied to a hospital ward.

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    Freedom driver

    The device weighs 5.9 kg, has built-in air filters, a battery and is worn by the patient constantly like a school backpack. Although the use of the Freedom Driver still requires certain therapeutic requirements to be met, in the case of Stan Larkin they were met, enabling the young man to leave the hospital at least temporarily.

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    Stan Larkin

    You can also get an idea of ​​the Freedom Driver by watching the video below:


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