The video above is jarring and very graphic, showing two hearts pumping at once. It’s also beautiful because without that extra heart, a man wouldn’t be alive. Tyson Smith, the man whose hearts are shown above, went through a rare surgery that’s called a heterotopic heart transplant. In the surgery, doctors add another heart to the right side of his chest to share the work and get the job done.
In Smith’s case, he couldn’t replace his own heart with the new one, he needed both:
“Even though Mr. Smith was facing death, he could not have a standard heart transplant,” explained Dr. Michael Madani, associate professor of surgery and co-director of the UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular centre, in the release. “Removing the old heart and replacing it with a new heart would have caused the new heart to fail because resistance to flow in his lungs-called pulmonary hypertension-was so high. But together, the two hearts share the work and get the job done.”
Doctors say it’s an incredibly rare procedure but one “worth having in the tool kit”. Amazing. [LaJolla Patch—Thanks Snake Charmer!]
Seamus Byrne
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 3:10 PMSo many missed opportunities in this post… Doctor Who references, romantic comedy concepts…
Owen
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 3:24 PMFirst thing I thought of was The Doctor…
GALLIFREYAN!?!
Steve Tran
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 7:44 PMAnd Sci-Fi.. I AM KROGAN/ZOIDBERG!
Gordy
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 3:27 PMSo, what does his pulse feel like? Dr Who’s?
Tim Kerr
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 4:31 PMHe may receive a call from Steven Moffatt or the BBC to star in a new spin-off series. Doctor Who RPA or something…?
ozoneocean
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 4:56 PMWasn’t there a Phill Collins song about this?
The Master
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 5:24 PMThat sound… the drumming… the CONSTANT DRUMMING!
olearymo
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 5:26 PMAccording to one surgeon, the patient unfortunately died during the surgery, but luckily Regenerated afterwards.
“It was very cool,” the doctor stated. “Brilliant effects. I liked him better before the Regeneration, but I bet the new guy will grow on me.”
Vin
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 8:25 PMWho’s Dr. Who?
Oh wait, I’m GenY.
back to twittering about climbing kosiosco(sic)
kthxbai
Sam Timmins
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 9:48 AMI’m part of Gen Y (1982, the VERY beginning) and know all about the OLD SCHOOL Doctor Who (with Tom Baker mostly) all the way to new school (with Matt Smith), so pull head from anus dude.
Mike
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 12:03 AMI’m guessing it feels like jungle drums.
James Carson
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 7:46 PMdoctor who nerds everywhere just jizzed!