Comment on How does death with a mechanical/artificial heart work?
quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 weeks agoWouldn’t the blood get thick and stop the flow before the battery died?
Comment on How does death with a mechanical/artificial heart work?
quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 weeks agoWouldn’t the blood get thick and stop the flow before the battery died?
Photonic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The absence of flow is what causes blood to clot. On top of that, people are continuously on strong anticoagulants (vitamin K antagonists) or heparin.
That being said, it is difficult to tell for sure and clotting would definitely occur in multiple places throughout the body as tissues and organs start to become necrotic, as would hemorrhage due to damaged blood vessels. But whether the actual pump itself would get blocked before the battery runs out, I don’t know.
quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
Hours?!?
Photonic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yup, there is a cable running through their skin connected to battery packs outside of the body, so patients are always walking around with a bag containing the battery packs wherever they go.
quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
If it only lasts a couple hours, how do they sleep for more than 3 hours?