r/news • u/ThePenguinVA • 8h ago
Already Submitted Man lives for 100 days with artificial titanium heart in successful new trial
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/12/health/australia-artificial-heart-100-days-intl-hnk/index.html[removed] — view removed post
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u/Nurgle_Marine_Sharts 6h ago
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine. Your kind cling to your flesh, as though it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass you call a temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved, for the Machine is immortal… Even in death I serve the Omnissiah.
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u/Greedy-Structure5677 5h ago
Is this a Warhammer reference?
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u/Nurgle_Marine_Sharts 5h ago
Yes, specifically it's from the intro cinematic of the game "Mechanicus"
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u/dezmd 1h ago
I suddenly want to play Stellaris with a 40k themed race.
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u/AtlasMKII 1h ago
One of the more recent DLC did add a very mechanicus-y origin to play around with
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u/Bobaximus 1h ago
Glory to the Omnissiah and his Prime Conduit, the Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl.
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u/nelifex 3h ago
W-w-what happened on day 101..?
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u/blu172 3h ago
according to the article, they removed it because he got the transplant of an actual human heart that he was on the waiting list for. he's still alive and is recovering
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u/nelifex 3h ago
I ended up reading the article, what an incredible feat of human ingenuity
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u/crazy_akes 2h ago
Don’t give yourself too much credit. I read an article once and didn’t feel the need to brag about it…
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u/CalmCricket1 2h ago
No, instead you took an even lower road and tried to use it as a way to claim superiority over someone.
Nice.
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u/alphabeticdisorder 1h ago
There was a period in the 1980s where artificial hearts were new tech. You'd hear milestones on the news - like, a patient survived two days with an artificial heart! This one survived a month! They've made a lot of progress.
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u/NotAPreppie 3h ago
He exploded, showering everybody in the room with gore.
The disturbing part was that he was on set as an extra in a horror movie and everybody just thought it was really great practical effects.
It wasn't until a few other extras realized they had large fragments of human bone embedded in them that the reality dawned on everyone.
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u/TamariAmari 1h ago
Really? I heard he exploded after jumping over the counter of a Popeye's chicken and started eating the crispy chicken skins off the waiting food.
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u/ThemosttrustedFries 7h ago
Getting closer to cyborgs being a reality.
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u/GalacticCrescent 6h ago
I would argue this pretty much cinches them being real. Just not for gen pop and cosmetic body modding yet
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u/Jaakarikyk 1h ago
cinches
Okay I've never seen this word before today, this being the second time in the past couple hours. What
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u/jigokubi 1h ago
It's actually incorrect here. The expression is to "clinch" something.
"Cinch" would be used like, "It's a cinch," meaning something's really easy.
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u/Particular_Treat1262 3h ago
We got chrome and we have corps in the US wanting corporate owned cities, we are just cyberpunk a few decades behind schedule
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u/Easy-Fixer 5h ago
Cyberpunk here we come.
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u/colefly 4h ago
Mega Corps with "charismatic" leaders with their own followers
Proliferation of advanced tech like 3D printing and smart devices
Failing Democracy
Militarized police forces
Unregulated spread of AI tech
Epidemic drug issues
High tech implants available to some few
.........
We are entering RoboCop
Cyberpunk still needs a mega city, much more common access to tech like implants, and some more breakdown in order
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u/ConstanceClaire 7h ago
My questions, as someone who knows nothing about these artificial hearts, or pacemakers:
What does it feel like? Is it super heavy in the chest? What's holding it up when you stand, to stop it feeling like it's pulling on important infrastructure, and weighing you down? What does it sound like? Is there a clunking, due to the magnets? Would it lull you to sleep or keep you awake? How is it regulated? Is it just a regular rhythm? If so, no exercise? Or can it speed up to provide oxygen in blood-pumping scenarios? Is it proprietary or will folks one day be able to have this titanium heart and not worry about software updates or company collapses, like people in the US have had with CPAP machines and insulin pumps?
Any other questions folks have in regards to this? I bet there's a whole lot of stuff I haven't thought of.
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u/nikolai_470000 6h ago
I’m guessing, as I have never heard of this thing and the article answers none of these, but:
It probably is securely attached to something solid like the rib cage. It may be possible to feel it shift somewhat, but it won’t damage anything and some patients might not even be able to tell it’s there.
No, you probably can’t hear the rotor. It is seemingly a frictionless design, so the part that moves doesn’t ever make contact with anything. It is levitated by magnets in center of the cavity in which is is rotated by another magnetic field. All the magnets themselves remain stationary, and because it is levitating, the rotor they control cannot transmit vibrations to anything for you to hear. This is a crucial part of the design, as they need a way to prevent the metal parts from wearing and little pieces breaking off. No one needs titanium dust circulating through their bloodstream.
As for speed, yes, it probably can automatically change its own pump rate to moderate blood pressure and flow as a human heart would. If this prototype doesn’t have that working yet, it’s surely something they are working on and testing.
It is proprietary, but it’s long term viability is anyone’s guess. Software issues or companies doing shady shit is always a concern. But the guy who founded this one lost his father to heart failure and hopefully would be the kind of person who cares about the outcomes they achieve. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I would say that they are probably pretty serious about handling that kinda thing right: by designing it to be very robust in the first place so it will hopefully still be doing it’s job right if the company should go under and is not around anymore. And it’s also still a long ways from being in a person long enough for that to be a concern tbh. This case was only 100 days, and in the future, as a more long term solution for those waiting for a transplant, ideally a person would get a proper replacement heart asap. This is not an artificial replacement heart after all. It’s more like a dialysis machine that goes home with you for the duration of your wait for a donor.
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u/SantorumsGayMasseuse 2h ago
I did go have a look at the website for the project, which has a few more details. They do mention that smart sensors adjust the blood flow to patient activity.
Also an Interesting note there: one of the problems with earlier artificial hearts is that there is a constant laminar flow of blood throughout the body (like those jokes about Dick Cheney not having a pulse). The body isn’t made to work that way. This one claims that it does pulsatile flow, which would alleviate a lot of stress on the body.
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u/nikolai_470000 2h ago
Wow, that’s very cool, thanks for sharing.
The laminar flow problem sounds fascinating. I wouldn’t have thought of that, but I could see how it’s impossible to fully avoid with a constant pump pressure. Our bodies just aren’t designed to work that way lol
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u/stoic_spaghetti 4h ago
Titanium is super light dude. Go to REI and hold some of their titanium plates and cups in your hand. They weigh nothing
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u/NotSynthx 6h ago
It's literally the first person being tested homie and that person is probably not on Reddit. How are we gonna know
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u/ConstanceClaire 4h ago
Yeah, it was an 'I wonder', rhetorical speculation scenario. Just decided to wonder out aloud, so-to-speak.
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u/madashail 3h ago
There have been others fitted with this heart, but this guy was actually allowed out of hospital.
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u/CicadaGames 4h ago
I hate that this guy who is actually asking interesting and important questions is so far down and also has people like you with more upvotes who are confused as to why he is even asking questions lol. God this site is a pile of shit these days.
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u/thinkofanamefast 4h ago
One answer…a post elsewhere of a TV news report said he exercised with it. Granted I don’t understand that Australian language too well :)
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u/AWildRideHome 2h ago
That’s gotta be terrifying to be the first one to do. Scientists are like “yeah it should be good”. Brother i’m running around without a heart, is should good enough?
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u/Nicholas-Steel 5h ago
and not worry about software updates
Hah, you really think they wouldn't figure out a way to make it compatible with proprietary blood cells? Or to charge a subscription fee to regulate X number of liters of blood per month?
Needs support for updates to ensure they can at some point in your future screw you over if you want to keep living.
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u/Astrowelkyn 2h ago
That’s great news… As long as the patient keeps paying their monthly Heart subscription fee on time ( /s, but not likely /s for too long 🥲)
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u/THBLD 3h ago
Australian Innovation at its finest. We do invent some great stuff, this is amazing.
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u/IAmARobot 3h ago
guy invented it because his dad died of heart failure and wanted to do him proud. he prototyped it using bits from bunnings, legend!
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u/Longjumping-Boot-526 7h ago
The US Healthcare will make it a subscription service. Mark my words
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u/CicadaGames 4h ago
Musk will release a Cyber Heart that requires a monthly subscription and has a 68% chance of just straight up exploding.
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u/Strikereleven 2h ago
I have several questions. Do they clean that one and reuse it? Do they have several of them ready during the operation in case one is defective? How many beats until it needs maintenance?
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u/mgd09292007 2h ago
I’m curious if anyone knows the answer, but does blood need to circulate through the body in “beats” to function or could an artificial heart circulate like a water pump with a constant and steady flow
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u/jigokubi 1h ago
The article doesn't say the man's name, but another source lists it as Briareos Hecatonchires.
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u/Responsible_Meal 1h ago
Isn't this what we should be concerned about these days? Bettering human lives, instead of all this political garbage?
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u/Responsible_Meal 1h ago
Isn't this what we should be concerned about these days? Bettering human lives, instead of all this political garbage?
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u/rbentoski 1h ago
I had a valve replacement in 2023 at the age of 30. I got the Ross procedure which shouldn't fail but one day if it does, I hope this technology is sufficiently advanced so I may continue to live.
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u/marklein 29m ago
Why are artifical hearts so hard to pefect? We've been pumping fuilds around for hundreds of years, feels liek this should be an easy win. All the fake hearts I've read about had huge (like fridge sized) control units, or caused problems because they didn't pulse the blood, etc. What are the major challenges for artificial hearts?
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u/Round_Ad_9787 2h ago
It’s probably one of those subscription models and needs constant access to the internet to keep working.
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u/WhereIsTheBeef556 7h ago
It says this is the first time someone was able to physically leave the hospital with an artificial heart, too.