First Self-contained Heart Implanted 【首例整套人工心臟移植】

A patient on the brink of death has received the world’s first self-contained artificial heart—a battery-powered device about the size of a softball that runs without the need for wires, tubes or hoses sticking out of the chest.

Two surgeons from the University of Louisville implanted the titanium and plastic pump during a sever-hour operation at Jewish Hospital Monday. The hospital said the patient was “awake and responsive” Tuesday and resting comfortably. It refused to release personal details.

The patient had been expected to die within a month without the operation, and doctors said they expected the artificial heart to extend the person’s life by only a month. But the device is considered a major step toward improving the patient’s quality of life.

The new pump, called AbioCor, is also a technological leap from the mechanical hearts used in the 1980s, which were attached by wires and tubes to bulky machinery outside the body. The most famous of those, the Jarvic-7, used air as a pumping device and was attached to an apparatus about the size of a washing machine.

“I think it’s potentially a major step forward in the artificial heart development,” said Dr. David Faxon, president of the American heart Association. However, he said the dream of an implantable, permanent artificial heart is not yet a reality: “This is obviously an experimental device whose long-term success has to be demonstrated.” Only about half of the 4,200 Americans on a waiting list for donor hearts received them last year, and most of the rest died.

Some doctors, including Robert Higgins, chairman of cardiology at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, said artificial hearts are unlikely to replace donor hears.

“A donor heart in a good transplant can last 15 to 30 years,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to replace that with a machine.”

The AbilCor has a 2-pound pumping unit, and electronic controls that adjust the pumping speed based on the body’s needs. It is powered by a small battery pack worn outside the body that transmits current through the skin.

36. 前兩段告訴Self-contained artificial heart

A. was made of titanium and pump

B. had brought the patient to the brink of death

C. did not need to get power from outside the body

D. was invented by two surgeous from university of Louisville

37. 病人接收 the first self-contained heart

A. could not afford a donor heart

B. was said to be in a good condition the next day after the operation

C. died two month’s after the heart implantation

D. was reluctant to release his or her personal information

38. 第四段中the Jarvic-7 is

A. the most expensive mechanical heart

B. a mechanical heart used in the 1980s

C. as advanced as A biocor

D. replacing A biocor

39. 通過Dr. David Faxon, the self-contained heart is

A. a milestone in the artificial heart development

B. still in the experimental stage

C. an implantable, permanent artificial heart

D. unavailable to all those Americans waiting for donor hearts

40.從文章推斷出donor heart

A. saved the lives of about 2100 Americans the year before the report

B. will be replaced by self-contained artificial hearts sooner or later

C. are more popular and cheaper than self-contained artificial hearts

D. can help patients survive less than 15 years if they are in good transplant.

答案：ABBBA

（責任編輯：vstara）

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