CCTV News:Recently, two patients with advanced heart failure who were installed with the third-generation artificial assisted heart made in China successfully recovered and were discharged from hospital in Tianjin, which also indicates that the research and development technology and performance of artificial assisted heart devices in China have reached the international similar level.
In order to celebrate the recovery and discharge of two patients, the medical staff specially prepared a warm "Celebration of Freshmen" activity. More than 100 days ago, 39-year-old Mr. Li and 62-year-old Grandma Gao installed the third-generation artificial assisted heart in Tianjin TEDA Cardiovascular Hospital through surgery because of severe heart failure. Now after more than three months of postoperative rehabilitation treatment, both of them can return to normal life.
Li Jing, a patient undergoing artificial assisted heart implantation: Now I feel no different from normal people. I used to be breathless when I walked, and I couldn’t speak. Now I walk more than 20 thousand steps every day.
Liu Xiaocheng, medical director of the artificial assisted heart project and dean of Tianjin TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital: They have two hearts, one is their own heart, the other is a mechanical heart in parallel, and it is enough for them to work, so now they see that their quality of life has completely returned to normal.
Heart transplantation is the best treatment for patients with advanced heart failure. However, due to the lack of heart donors, the number of heart transplants in China is only a few hundred each year. Implantation of artificial assisted heart is the most effective treatment besides heart transplantation, and its principle is to replace some functions of heart with mechanical pump. The manufacturing precision and technical difficulty of this kind of pump are extremely high. The patient was implanted with an artificial heart developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, and its design was integrated with the related development technology of China’s launch vehicle.
Zeng Guangshang, academician of China Academy of Engineering and expert of China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.It is to raise the pressure of human blood and replace a certain part of the function of the heart. Then in the field of aerospace, for example, a liquid rocket engine must pump fuel, and that is to say, the flight control executive system also needs a hydraulic pump, which should be common.
According to experts, artificial assisted heart technology is relatively mature abroad. In the United States and Europe, about 2,000 patients fight heart failure by installing artificial heart AIDS every year. However, in China, due to its late start, it is still in the early clinical trial stage.
Miao Qi, expert of the artificial assistant heart project review meeting and director of cardiac surgery department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.Our country started very late, and it will take a long time to be widely used in this patient with heart failure in the middle and late stage. Seeing the successful experience of these two cases, China’s independent intellectual property rights of artificial heart design, including its application, have great potential.
The artificial assisted heart to help patients recover successfully was developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. So how can rocket technology help patients with heart failure and ensure their survival?
Xu Jian, chief engineer of artificial assisted heart project and technical director of Aerospace Taixin Company.This is the earliest generation of artificial heart. It is placed outside the body, and four tubes will be connected to the human aorta and pulmonary artery and to the ventricle.
journalist: How heavy will this be?
Xu Jian, chief engineer of artificial assisted heart project and technical director of Aerospace Taixin Company.: Basically, the whole set should be about one kilogram.
CCTV reporter Wang ShiyuThis small cylinder with a diameter of 50 mm and a thickness of about 30 mm in my hand is a device to help the heart of heart failure patients regain power. It weighs only 180 grams, but it can help the heart to provide the energy needed for the blood circulation of the whole body in recent liters.
It is the design concept of launch vehicle and the development goal of artificial heart to produce greater thrust with smaller self-weight. From the first generation of "giant" artificial hearts that can only be hung outside the body to a new generation of products that can be implanted in the body now, only 180 grams, the application of space technology has helped the rapid development of artificial hearts in miniaturization and light weight.
Liu Zhigang, Vice President of Tianjin TEDA International Cardiovascular HospitalWe can implant it into the patient conveniently. Even if the patient is a small weight or even a child, it is possible to implant our miniaturized products.
In addition, the outstanding feature of the third generation artificial heart is that it uses suspension technology to reduce the friction between equipment parts, thus greatly reducing the damage and obstruction to human blood, which is also transformed from aerospace technology. These mature aerospace technologies are transformed into the design and manufacture of artificial hearts, which greatly improves the reliability of artificial hearts.
Many people will ask, why do people on earth spend huge sums of money and energy to explore the universe when there are still problems like birth, illness, death and illness to be solved? Then the emergence of artificial assisted heart using rocket technology will be a good answer. And space technology is also promoting the progress of human society in this way.
This workshop, located in China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, undertakes the processing and manufacturing of precision pump valves on launch vehicles in China. At the beginning of the construction, researchers never thought that one day, this workshop would also be used to process artificially assisted hearts, bringing hope to patients with heart failure.
Ding Zhongjun, an expert from China Academy of Launch Vehicle TechnologyFor example, the accuracy of our aerospace parts is one micron. For blood pump parts, the size of its red blood cells is generally ten microns. Therefore, the processing ability and accuracy of this part can guarantee its requirements.
The titanium alloy used in artificial assisted heart is also an important material on spacecraft. It is the development of aerospace technology that makes the production and precision machining of titanium alloy a mature technology.
Xu Jian, Chief Engineer of Artificial Assisted Heart Project and Technical Director of Aerospace Taixin CompanyThe biocompatibility of titanium alloy is very good. Most of the artificial hearts in the world are mainly made of titanium alloy, and the processing of titanium alloy is the old line of aerospace, which is an advantage.
In the development of human space industry, a number of life-changing technologies have been born, ranging from our common instant noodle diapers to nuclear magnetic resonance in the medical field, and even the navigation and positioning technology we use every day. The artificial heart successfully developed by relying on rocket technology has also opened up a new field for space technology to benefit the public.
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