The small device pictured is considered a groundbreaking scientific achievement — and somewhere out there, someone is alive today because of it.
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This device is the world's smallest artificial heart.
It is made of titanium and weighs just 11 grams — roughly 1/82 the weight of an adult human heart (which weighs 900 grams).
It was first implanted in Italy in 2012, in the chest of a 16-month-old infant, and successfully kept the child alive for 13 days until a suitable donor heart was found.
Happily, the story ended on a moving note: the child survived the procedure and went on to live in good health.
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The design principle that made this miniaturization possible is particularly fascinating.
Blood flow in this device is continuous.
A tiny impeller sits at the center of the tube and spins without interruption — drawing blood in from one side and pushing it out the other.
This is fundamentally different from the human heart, or from artificial hearts that attempt to mimic it, where a complex valve system generates pulses of flow that we perceive as a heartbeat.
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Continuous flow offers many advantages.
It makes the device far smaller and simpler, significantly reducing both the likelihood of mechanical failure and energy consumption.
On the other hand, a continuous-flow pump can damage blood cells as they pass through the impeller, and because it is unnatural for the human body, it may give rise to unforeseen side effects.
The subject remains under intensive investigation — yet in terms of outcomes, continuous-flow artificial hearts have demonstrated far better results than their pulsatile counterparts, and the field looks more promising than ever.