“A transplant trades one set of problems for another set of problems.” That’s what O. H. “Bud” Frazier, one of the world’s best heart surgeons, believes. Immune system problems, organ rejections, and infections make transplanting hearts a flawed solution to heart failure at best. Frazier believes the real answer is to develop an artificial heart. Mimi Swartz’s story includes vivid descriptions of Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley, two of the ground-breaking heart surgeons. The surgeons were rivals, but their competition produced innovations that saved lives. Christiaan Barnard shocked the world by performing the first heart transplant. That triggered a rush to develop the techniques to make heart transplants saFe and successful. Robert Jarvik’s artificial heart kept Barney Clark alive and pointed the way to the future.
Bud Frazier’s quest for a fully functioning and reliable artificial heart attracted Billy Cohn, a heart surgeon and inventor. Daniel Timms, an Australian biomedical engineer, introduces Frazier and Cohn to a radical new concept: an artificial heart that spins the blood instead of pulsing it. You will learn a lot about medical innovation, heart surgery, surgeons, and the medical bureaucracy in Ticker. Riveting! A-
TABEL OF CONTENTS:
Prologue: THE TIN MAN 1
1. THE WIZARD: 2015 13
2. HOW HARD COULD IT BE? 21
3. THE MAKINGS OF A SURGEON 31
4. A TOUR OF HELL 51
5. THE WAR AT HOME 61
6. THE PURLOINED HEART 81
7. EXPERIMENTS 97
8. BARNEY WHO? 115
9. THE PRISONER 141
10. THE WILDERNESS 147
11. SYNCHRONICITY 165
12. THE KING OF DISTRACTION 177
13. HEARTMATES 195
14. THE AUSTRALIAN GUY 209
15. MATILDA 223
16. THE OCCUPATION 243
17. THE POWER SOURCE 257
18. THE DEAM OF ETERNAL LIFE 271
Acknowledgements 279
Notes 283
Selected Bibliography 297
Index 307
Beyond my understanding, I am sure. How will we make room for the new if we solve this problem and cure cancer.
Patti, we’re going to have to colonize Mars! TICKER tells you a lot about doctors, especially surgeons, and their supreme confidence (sometimes misplaced) and competitiveness.
The infection problem would still be there, and I don’t understand why hospitals are such dangerous places because of diseases and infections.
Rick, hospitals are germ factories. They’re full of sick people! No matter how careful hospitals are with infection and germ control, it’s a toxic situation.