Sunday, January 22, 2012

Man With Two Hearts Survives Double Heart Attack

An Italian man with two hearts – one his own, one a donor heart – was resuscitated via a defibrillator when both organs developed irregular heart rhythms, a case study reports. The study in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine chronicles the life-saving measures used in 2010 to save the 71-year-old, who received the donor heart in 2003. He had also received a pacemaker in 2001. The heart was implanted in a heterotopic procedure, which means the patient keeps his heart and receives a donor heart. The new heart is connected to the original organ to create a double heart, which offers some advantages: it offers the old heart a chance to recover, and if the donor heart is rejected and fails, it can be removed. After the man was admitted to the hospital, doctors administered drug therapy in an attempt to correct his dysrhythmia, only to have the medicine shut down both of his hearts. Doctors then were able to successfully use a defibrillator to revive both hearts simultaneously. He’s now reportedly doing well with his two functioning hearts.