Bangalore, August 08: “It was like climbing seven hills.” This is how a middle- aged man described the trouble he had climbing up a few stairs to his office. Three years on, Venkatakrishnaiah, 57, can climb up 100 steps of a local temple several times — powered by an implanted artificial heart. The only complaint Venkatakrishnaiah, a former assistant executive engineer with the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation, has is that it is too rainy these days to walk around with his backpack heart. The external battery backpack of his “ heart” should remain dry. When he takes a bath, he places it securely, covered — and he waterproofs his stomach where the cables connect. Barring such minor issues, Venkatakrishnaiah says he leads a “ happy life”. A heart attack in 2003 had left him invalid. A bypass surgery could not fully repair his failing heart because his left ventricle was damaged. “ I dreaded stepping out of bed — even going to the toilet,” Venkatakrishnaiah said. He quit his job. In 2008, he underwent another surgery at Narayana Hrudayalaya to implant a third- generation artificial heart. The machine — sold under the brand name VentrAssist — comes with a titanium casing and a centrifugal pump that levitates over a magnetic field, floating in the blood. It basically is a blood pump that connects to the left ventricle to help the ailing heart’s pumping function. Weighing 298 gm, 60mm in diameter, the pump has a hard carbon coating on its surfaces that touches blood, a back- up motor drive, controller and processor — running on a rechargeable battery. To charge it every eight hours, it just needs to be plugged into a socket. The machine has evolved and with better battery life, it allows patients to “ drive, fly, jog and even ski”. According to Dr Devi Shetty, head of Narayana Hrudayalaya, a heart implant is technically simpler than fixing other organs. All it involves is “ just a five- litre pump”. “ It costs ` 33 lakh but I did not pay a single rupee. It came free for me,” Venkatakrishnaiah said. Narayanana Hrudayalaya had a tie up with the University of Minnesota that allowed such gratis work.
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