Meet the case of two patients who lived without heartbeat

In 2011, 55-year-old Craig Lewis was the first human to receive a non-beating artificial heart. Instead, the device has a mechanism that circulates blood continuously rather than being pumped.

Until then, heart-working contraptions worked for short periods or assisted only on one side of the organ. Those who helped on both sides were too big, especially for women.

Another problem was durability, since the artificial organ had to pump blood 100, 000 times a day, a total of 35 million times a year. Older models lasted one to two years and had many problems with clot and thrombosis.

Buzz

The Texan was on the brink of death from cardiac amyloidosis, where abnormal proteins accumulate in the heart. Only one transplant could save him, but there was a waiting list of 100, 000 patients, of which only 2, 200 are treated each year. Not even House would handle it.

Lewis received the new artificial heart and emerged from the coma. Auscultated through the stethoscope, his chest made not the sound of beating but a continuous hum. He had no heartbeat and lived only five weeks after surgery, but due to kidney and liver failure.

In 2012, it was the turn of a former Czech firefighter to have his heart completely replaced by an artificial flow device. Jakub Halik survived for six months, succumbing to liver problems. According to experience, the useful life of this type of artificial heart can range from 5 to 10 years.