Hacker News Reader

My friend had this pump pack attached to him (the same thing Dick Cheney had) and it was constant flow. His heart technically worked but it was so weak you could barely detect it. The pump was just constant circulation, no pumping.

View on HN

Hmm, do body processes depend on the fact that blood flows in pulses, and an optimal heart must be pulsed?

It used to be assumed to be the case because the heartbeat is so closely associated with life. This is why the first artificial hearts replicated pulses, despite requiring much more complexity. It turns out that your body can function more or less fine with continuous blood flow.

Yes, with this device, there is no pulse.

Do they do something unrelated to the function of pumping blood, just to make the patient feel a heartbeat for comfort?

I dont know for sure but the doctors were on TV in Houston a few months ago and IIRC they said no pulse.

They did mention that one has been running continuously for two years in vitro, and the idea is for it to be reliable enough to eventually implant permanently in some situations.

As a correction I saw some updated info where they say a pulse is definitely created by this device, so I must not have heard the brief TV mention accurately.

I think what impresses me a lot is a smoother-running machine :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com