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We're entering the age of viable artificial organs. I'll take that over flying cars. Amazing work.

by hkt 5y ago

hutzlibu 5y ago
Artificial hearts already work since quite a while. It is amazing, but real organs can sustain themself - artificial mechanical ones not. And need surgery for replacement. I have my hopes on artificial real organs and see the mechanical ones as a intermediate solution.
- akoluthic 5y ago
  A miraculous breakthrough could be on two fronts: artificial "meat organs" for those whose life is at immediate risk and need a transplant, and regenerative biotech/medicine to repair those with damage without requiring surgery. Either way, implanted devices can be a good bridge from our current situation.
  - esturk 5y ago
    And they are. One of the other 6 finalists were doing "Genetically-engineered pig kidney xenotransplantation". The idea is to "Genetically engineered pig kidneys that will increase the supply of transplantable organs by eliminating the antibody barrier to xenotransplantation."
- kiba 5y ago
  I would like a backup heart, but not sure if it makes sense from an engineering standpoint.
  - bobmaxup 5y ago
    For sudden cardiac death? Isn't that mostly caused by arrhythmia? So a prophylactic pacemaker maybe? Isn't that already a thing?
    - krageon 5y ago
      The threat model could be a freak heart stabbing. In which case a backup heart somewhere else (and some truly earthshattering breakthroughs in fast clotting) might make sense.
      - saalweachter 5y ago
        My dream technology would be a way to make my body just ... stop, if Something Bad happened, like all my blood falling out, until someone stumbled upon my non-rotting corpse, patched the holes, and filled it back up. It's such bullshit that if I stop living for even a little bit my body melts into useless slag like an engine running without oil.
    - kiba 5y ago
      I imagined damage to the heart muscles or blocked blood vessel.
- MayeulC 5y ago
  > Artificial hearts already work since quite a while Frankly I wouldn't want one for $1B. IIRC the longest recorded survival with an artificial rate was about 3 months for a continuous flow 'pulse-less' device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_heart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_heart So yeah, they "work", but are still far from perfect.
  - hutzlibu 5y ago
    Oh. I assumed they performed better by now. So basically getting a artificial heart as a replacement right now, means taking part in developing science and medicine, but not really realistically with any hopes of living on.
  - greatpatton 5y ago
    Seems that the article is a bit outdated. Carmat total artificial heart already had patient with at least 20 months of survival (it is currently used as a bridge until transplantation). * https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/entreprises/services/carmat-un-patient-a-deja-vecu-plus-de-20-mois-avec-un-coeur-artificiel_AV-201910290241.html https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/entreprises/services/carmat-u... (20 months in French) https://www.carmatsa.com/en/news/carmat-feedback-6-years-8-months-cumulative-support-shows-constant-improvement-clinical-outcomes-patients-pivotal-study/ https://www.carmatsa.com/en/news/carmat-feedback-6-years-8-m... (latest study results)

We're entering the age of viable artificial organs. I'll take that over flying cars. Amazing work.

by hkt 5y ago

We're entering the age of viable artificial organs. I'll take that over flying cars. Amazing work.

Artificial hearts already work since quite a while. It is amazing, but real organs can sustain themself - artificial mechanical ones not. And need surgery for replacement. I have my hopes on artificial real organs and see the mechanical ones as a intermediate solution.

akoluthic 5y ago
A miraculous breakthrough could be on two fronts: artificial "meat organs" for those whose life is at immediate risk and need a transplant, and regenerative biotech/medicine to repair those with damage without requiring surgery. Either way, implanted devices can be a good bridge from our current situation.
- esturk 5y ago
  And they are. One of the other 6 finalists were doing "Genetically-engineered pig kidney xenotransplantation". The idea is to "Genetically engineered pig kidneys that will increase the supply of transplantable organs by eliminating the antibody barrier to xenotransplantation."
kiba 5y ago
I would like a backup heart, but not sure if it makes sense from an engineering standpoint.
- bobmaxup 5y ago
  For sudden cardiac death? Isn't that mostly caused by arrhythmia? So a prophylactic pacemaker maybe? Isn't that already a thing?
  - krageon 5y ago
    The threat model could be a freak heart stabbing. In which case a backup heart somewhere else (and some truly earthshattering breakthroughs in fast clotting) might make sense.
    - saalweachter 5y ago
      My dream technology would be a way to make my body just ... stop, if Something Bad happened, like all my blood falling out, until someone stumbled upon my non-rotting corpse, patched the holes, and filled it back up. It's such bullshit that if I stop living for even a little bit my body melts into useless slag like an engine running without oil.
  - kiba 5y ago
    I imagined damage to the heart muscles or blocked blood vessel.
MayeulC 5y ago
> Artificial hearts already work since quite a while Frankly I wouldn't want one for $1B. IIRC the longest recorded survival with an artificial rate was about 3 months for a continuous flow 'pulse-less' device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_heart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_heart So yeah, they "work", but are still far from perfect.
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  Oh. I assumed they performed better by now. So basically getting a artificial heart as a replacement right now, means taking part in developing science and medicine, but not really realistically with any hopes of living on.
- greatpatton 5y ago
  Seems that the article is a bit outdated. Carmat total artificial heart already had patient with at least 20 months of survival (it is currently used as a bridge until transplantation). * https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/entreprises/services/carmat-un-patient-a-deja-vecu-plus-de-20-mois-avec-un-coeur-artificiel_AV-201910290241.html https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/entreprises/services/carmat-u... (20 months in French) https://www.carmatsa.com/en/news/carmat-feedback-6-years-8-months-cumulative-support-shows-constant-improvement-clinical-outcomes-patients-pivotal-study/ https://www.carmatsa.com/en/news/carmat-feedback-6-years-8-m... (latest study results)