Download NAME______________________________________ What is a

NAME______________________________________
1.
What is a pacemaker?
 A pacemaker uses batteries to send electric signals to your heart to help it pump
the right way. It is carried under the skin.
2.
How were pacemakers developed?
 1887 first measurements of the hearts electric pulses.
 1951 external pacemaker built by Paul Zoll in the USA
 1957 First battery pacemaker using transistors small enough to carry
 1958 First implanted pacemaker in Sweden
 1970s lithium-ion batteries make pacemakers smaller and longer lasting
 1990s microprocessors make pacemakers more efficient
 2000s pacemakers simultaneously linked to both ventricles.
3.
How do valves work in the heart?

The heart consists of four chambers, two atria (upper chambers) and two ventricles (lower
chambers). There is a valve through which blood passes before leaving each chamber of the
heart. The valves prevent the backward flow of blood
3.
Describe the story of heart transplants.
 In 1967, a human heart from one person was transplanted into the body of another by a
South African surgeon named Dr. Barnard in Cape Town. Dr. Barnard's surgical team
removed the heart of a 25-year-old woman who had died following an auto accident and
placed it in the chest of Louis Washkansky, a 55-year-old man dying of heart damage. The
patient survived for 18 days.
 The number of heart transplants dropped from 100 in 1968, to just 18 in 1970. It was
recognized that the major problem was the body's natural tendency to reject the new
tissues.
 The discovery of cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant drug derived from soil fungus, in the
1970s made transplants more viable.
 The first heart lung transplant was performed in the USA in 1968
 In 2004, there were only 39 heart–lung transplants performed in the entire United States
and only 75 worldwide. By comparison, in that same year there were 2,016 heart and 1,173
lung transplants
NAME______________________________________
4.
Describe the story of artificial hearts.
 Artificial hearts have been under development since the 1950s
 1966, Dr. DeBakey first successfully implanted a booster pump as a temporary
assist device.
 1969, Dr. Denton Cooley implanted the first completely artificial heart in a human,
again on a temporary basis
 1982, The first permanent artificial heart, designed by Dr. Robert Jarvik, was
implanted
 The Jarvik-7 was implanted in Barney Clark on December 2, 1982, at the
University of Utah Medical Centre. Mr Clark lived 112 days with the artificial heart
 Artificial hearts are used to extend transplant wait times.
5.
What is plaque?
 Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the
blood. It can build up in arteries and cause blockages.
6.
What is angioplasty?
 Angioplasty is a medical procedure used to treat narrowing of the arteries that
supply blood to the heart. This is accomplished by inflating a small balloon inside
the artery to increase the blood flow to the heart.
7.
How does angioplasty overcome plaque?
 The doctor threads a thin tube through a blood vessel in the arm or groin up to the
involved site in the artery. The tube has a tiny balloon on the end. When the tube
is in place, the doctor inflates the balloon to push the plaque outward against the
wall of the artery. This widens the artery and restores blood flow.
8.
How do artificial valves work?
 As the heart muscle contracts and relaxes, the valves open and shut, letting blood
flow into the ventricles and atria at alternate times.
9.
What is arrhythmia?
 Arrhythmias are heart-rhythm problems - they occur when the electrical impulses
to the heart that coordinate heartbeats are not working properly, making the
heart beat too fast/slow or inconsistently
How do pacemakers overcome arrhythmia?
 Faulty electrical signalling in the heart causes arrhythmias. Pacemakers use lowenergy electrical pulses to overcome this faulty electrical signalling.
What materials are pacemakers made of?
10.
11.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3232561/