The stand-up comedy actor implanted a domestic magnetic levitation artificial heart has been reborn, and now rides 15 kilometers in two days

Recently, #Can't hear the heartbeat can live normally #The topic has appeared on Weibo hot search
.
According to news reports, talk show actor Wang Seventeen once suffered from severe heart failure due to illness and his life was in danger
.
China's self-developed artificial heart made him a desperate life
.
Wang XVII, who has been given death notices four times, now lives as usual, cycling 15 kilometers every two days
.

The artificial heart here is a collective name
for ventricular assist device (VAD) and total artificial heart (TAH).
According to public information, heart transplantation is the best treatment plan for end-stage heart failure, but limited by factors such as donor heart shortage, ex vivo cardiac preservation and post-transplant immune rejection, mechanical circulatory assist devices represented by ventricular assist devices (VAD) and total artificial heart (TAH) have gradually become the only option
for end-stage heart failure and long-term treatment during heart transplantation.

In terms of function, artificial heart is the use of mechanical methods to power blood circulation, transport blood from the heart to various organs, thereby partially or completely replacing the natural heart
.
Some people therefore figuratively refer to it as the "pump"
of the heart.
Behind Wang Seventeen's successful treatment, the artificial heart is moving from dream to reality and maturity
.
When will this new treatment be available for the average patient?

From the current market products, three domestic implantable artificial hearts have been approved for marketing
.
On August 26, 2019, the implantable LVAD (left ventricular assist device) produced by Chongqing Yongrenxin Medical Device Co.
, Ltd.
was approved
by the State Medical Products Administration.

In July 2022, the implantable left ventricular assist system developed by Aerospace Taixin Technology Co.
, Ltd.
was approved for marketing
.
The State Food and Drug Administration wrote in the approval document that the product is the first implantable magnetic suspension left ventricular assist system in China using magnetic liquid suspension technology, and its key technical indicators have reached the international equivalent level
.

Liu Xiaocheng, president of TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital, analyzed that full magnetic levitation and magnetic liquid suspension are more about the difference in process, as long as the design is reasonable, the process is superb, and the clinical effect is the same in the
near and long term.
The differences are mainly due to the patient selection criteria, comprehensive medical level, patient cooperation degree and long-term fine management
.

Yan Shu, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Medical Information of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and others published an article saying that the price of mainstream implantable VAD products is between 80,000 and 100,000 US dollars, and the total cost of superimposed surgery and nursing is usually more than 150,000 US dollars
.
Although the cost is higher, medical insurance or commercial insurance in countries such as Europe and the United States can cover most of them, and the proportion of out-of-pocket payments for patients is relatively low
.
In China, VAD is a new high-end medical device entering the market, pricing charges and medical insurance policies are not clear, domestic commercial medical insurance is also difficult to cover its costs, if the out-of-pocket cost exceeds one million, it will undoubtedly limit the promotion of the device, making patients sigh.

"As far as my clinical patients are concerned, most patients with end-stage heart failure do not have a good
family situation.
It is hoped that the national medical insurance department can include the medical expenses for the treatment of patients with end-stage heart failure into the medical insurance special diseases and into the special coordination
.
Dean Liu Xiaocheng said
.

Although artificial hearts can save many lives, there are still many problems to be solved
in the future.

The first is wireless charging
.

Regardless of the first generation of artificial hearts, they must rely on external power sources to supply energy, and a pump cable passes through the internal "tunnel" to power
them.

Wang Seventeen also joked that his artificial heart had a wire hanging on the left side, and his mother usually stood on his left to protect him
.
At present, domestic and foreign has begun to design and develop artificial heart wireless charging methods, China's fourth generation has the function
of wireless charging.

This is followed by pulsating blood flow
.

Pulsating blood flow assists ventricular septal oscillation, reduces the incidence of right heart failure, and reduces the incidence
of thrombosis and insufficiency.

At the same time, it can also increase the elasticity of blood vessels, improve tissue perfusion, and reduce bleeding in the digestive organs of patients, which makes patients after LVAD surgery more beneficial
.
Among the products under research, more pulsating blood flow is also the main design direction
.

Finally, there is the true total artificial heart (TAH).

This may be more in line with the public's perception of a truly artificial heart, which is a complete heart that can replace the natural heart
.

A fully artificial heart needs to be developed from biomaterials and does not require the transplant to take immunosuppressive drugs
.
It has a complex sensor and microprocessor system inside, which can monitor the changes inside the patient's body and change the blood flow according to the patient's physical functional needs, which can accelerate or slow down the blood flow according to the patient's activities, and is the artificial heart closest to the human heart
in terms of mechanism.

On July 10, 2017, Nicholas Cohrs and his colleagues presented a new concept in the Journal of Artificial Organs, which is made
from silicone resin with the help of 3D printing technology at ETH Zurich's Laboratory for Functional Materials.

According to reports in early 2018, recent artificial hearts using various polymers instead of silicone still have a limited working lifespan, providing only a useful lifespan of 1 million heartbeats, about 10 days
in the human body.

At the time, Nicholas Cohrs and his team were experimenting with 3D printing technology, working to develop a model
that could last up to 15 years.

Nicholas Cohrs said, "We can't really predict when we'll have an ultimate working heart
that meets all the requirements and is ready for implantation.
This usually takes years
.
”