Biomedicine Rebuilds The Human Anatomy (1985)

events of the past and present shape tomorrow our vital concern is you today's youth for our future depends on you before attempting to figure out where we're all going it is imperative for us to have a strong awareness of where we have been to untangle today's problems we need to understand yesterday this film series hopefully will in part make you aware of people places and events which have helped shape our nation and our world manufacturers Hanover is pleased to sponsor this educational film manufacturers Hanover it's banking the way you want it to be [Music] medicine has long been a collaborative effort of researchers practitioners and other health experts today scientists and engineers are joining in this worldwide effort now called collaborative biomedicine or biomedical engineering at the johns hopkins medical institutions and at the Applied Physics Laboratory problems are being solved in medicine and biology by seeking new fundamental knowledge and developing new research tools therapeutic devices and data handling systems progress in the field is illustrated by a report on the total artificial heart project [Music] [Music] Julie Martin is a clear benefactor of biomedical engineering Julie's first heart pacemaker was large for her body and fixed in function electrically stimulating her heart muscle to provide a normal heartbeat subsequently her parents and doctors agreed that a new reprogrammable adjustable pacemaker would provide better lifetime assistance with less frequent surgery creation of the new pacemaker began with designs detailed engineering drawings each detail the electrical wiring the arrangement of parts is precisely laid out during assembly the parts must be kept sterile this clean room is as contamination free as those used for assembling satellites and micro computer chips each component is inspected tested and run through extremes of environmental stresses to make sure it will perform reliably when repairs are not practical the peacemaker includes a radio control system which can revise the program at a distance and a radio telemetry system that sends reports on how it is functioning both systems are designed to operate after installation within the body [Music] not only the implant portion is tested but also the accompanying reprogramming unit several weeks after installation Julie returns to the hospital for a checkup the doctors using the radio command unit check on its functions this includes altering its stimulation pattern and other outputs for Julie this product of medical and engineering collaboration means living a more normal life [Music] but each year over a million Americans suffer their first heart attacks 400,000 survived but of them about 50,000 more will die within a year of ventricular fibrillation uncontrollable spasms that disrupt the normal heartbeat at a hospital electric defibrillation shocks are given to restore the normal rhythm but most recurrent attacks happen away from the hospital a new answer is an automatic implanted defibrillator created by private industry now being evaluated by the laboratory under NASA sponsorship placed in the abdomen just beneath the skin one of its wires runs up through a large vein and ends in the left ventricle just above the heart another wire is connected to an electrically conductive cup placed just below the heart when fibrillation is sensed by the implanted device an electrical shock is given about 15 seconds later which can restore the normal action of the heart the implanted defibrillator monitoring diagnosing and automatically giving emergency treatment for dangerous heart rhythms a related problem arteriosclerosis certain imperfections in the circulatory system may be due to blood flow variations studies have shown that the geometry of blood vessels their bends and branchings may be related to blood tube irregularities likewise being studied is the eye including the flow of aqueous humor in front of the lens failure of which leads to the condition called glaucoma studies of the cornea the eyes transparent outside coating may suggest new approaches to the problem [Music] another eye disease diabetic retinopathy the spread of new unwanted blood vessels in the eye is being treated with laser light an answer pioneered at Johns Hopkins such laser photocoagulation burning out unwanted cells can often save patients from blindness another aspect of biomedical engineering artificial hands are being improved by adapting ideas used in micro computers and space vehicle servo systems without this artificial limb for example this amputee could not have lifted and carried such a heavy object a pressing on the brain i inter-cranial pressure perhaps due to injuries or head surgery can lead to severe brain damage or even death a problem in diagnosis and treatment is precise measurement of the pressure one procedure under test is a sensor which under pressure has different electrical characteristics [Music] with the sensor inserted permanently in the skull a physician can use an extremely sensitive metal detector to determine intracranial pressure variations without further surgery other experts have applied technology to hospital functions such as preparing the details for advanced therapy then setting time tables for preventive maintenance and repair this computer database record system helps physicians respond to unscheduled visits and telephone calls it can quickly provide the patient's recent medical history prescriptions and any unusual responses to therapy while this larger clinical information system can give instant access to data on more than 30,000 patients run by technicians a visual information processing scanner quickly extracts critical data from medical images it can analyze two-dimensional echocardiography that measure heart muscle walls tract tiny metallic heart implants in x-rays so to map the movements of the hearts ventricular walls and the hearts volume and profile microscopic images to determine the size and shape of nerve cell cross-sections [Music] finally a programmable implanted medication delivery system is being developed which may eliminate the need for taking pills or injections inside a person's body the device will release measured amounts of medical substances at prescribed times dispensing insulin it could aid in the treatment of diabetes dispensing other medications that could aid victims of heart attacks drug and alcohol addiction epilepsy and chronic pain a key element are tiny valves smaller than a dime in diameter at prescribed times a microcomputer signals the valves to open releasing precise amounts of medication such controlled releases should reduce drug side effects and complications often a result of variations in drug levels in the blood due to delivery by pills or injections the nature of progress in biomechanical collaboration is illustrated by the history of the artificial heart in 1935 Charles Lindbergh and a French surgeon dr. Alexis Carroll experimented with a profusion pump a device to keep animal organs alive outside the body it was ridiculed as a glass heart and a robot heart in 1952 dr. Charles huffnagle devised a plastic a aortic valve in 1957 dr. bill helm cough conducted tests of an artificial heart in dogs using this device many more experiments followed the current modified Jarvik seven artificial heart is mostly of polyurethane supported on an aluminum base it's built in layers each baked before the next layer is added the diaphragms are made with alternating layers of polyurethane and graphite this increases the material strength vitally important in any kind of heart the finished Jarvik seven artificial heart replaces the lower portions of the living heart the ventricles which pumped deoxygenated blood into the lungs and oxygenated enriched blood into the body 40 million times a year the biological heart expands and contracts in response to nerve impulses in the artificial heart compressed air is used to flex a diaphragm in each chamber the result is the same pumping the blood out and drawing it in copies of the Jarvik artificial heart have withstood over four years of continuous machine testing and have been implanted in hundreds of animals even so the one used in dr. Barney Clark the first artificial heart recipient suffered a broken valve which required emergency surgery the current model has stronger valves but this technology is still very much in the experimental stage the ultimate goal of the project envisioned here an implanted artificial heart that permits continuation of a fully normal life more than a million people a year now receives bioengineered parts from artificial joints to man-made lenses for their eyes today's biomedical researchers continue to seek ways to restore vital functions and alleviate suffering when the body becomes disabled aiding the human body a natural marble beyond any other manufacturers Hanover has been pleased to sponsor this educational film manufacturers Hanover its banking the way you want it to be