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An artificial organ is a man-made device that is implanted into, or integrated onto, a human to replace a natural organ, for the purpose of restoring a specific function or a group of related functions so the patient may return to as normal a life as possible. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus In Biology, an organ ( Latin: organum, "instrument tool" from Greek όργανον - organon "organ instrument The replaced function doesn't necessarily have to be related to life support, but often is. Life support, in the medical field refers to a set of therapies for preserving a patient's life when essential body systems are not functioning sufficiently to sustain life unaided

Implied by this definition is the fact that the device must not be continuously tethered to a stationary power supply, or other stationary resources, such as filters or chemical processing units. (Periodic rapid recharging of batteries, refilling of chemicals, and/or cleaning/replacing of filters, would exclude a device from being called an artificial organ. ) Thus a dialysis machine, while a very successful and critically important life support device that completely replaces the duties of a kidney, is not an artificial organ. In Medicine, dialysis (from Greek "dialusis" meaning dissolution "dia" meaning through and "lusis" meaning loosening is primarily The kidneys are complicated organs that have numerous biological roles At this time a successful portable self-contained artificial kidney has not become available. Artificial kidney is often a Synonym for Hemodialysis, but may also more generally refer to renal replacement therapies (with exclusion of Renal

Reasons to construct and install an artificial organ, an extremely expensive process initially, which may entail many years of ongoing maintenance services not needed by a natural organ, might include:

The use of any artificial organ by humans is almost always preceded by extensive experiments with animals. A cochlear implant (CI is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of Sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing Plastic surgery is a medical specialty interested in the correction of form and function Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled Surgery (from the χειρουργική cheirourgikē, via chirurgiae meaning "hand work" is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental Animal testing or animal research is the use of non-human Animals in scientific experimentation. Initial testing in humans is frequently limited to those either already facing death, or who have exhausted every other treatment possibility. (Rarely testing may be done on healthy volunteers who are scheduled for execution pertaining to violent crimes. )

Although not typically thought of as organs, one might also consider replacement bone, and joints thereof, such as hip replacements, in this context. Hip replacement, also hip Arthroplasty, is a surgical procedure in which the Hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant.


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Successful Restorations

There are now many artificial organs that have been implanted in humans, with varying degrees of success.

Brain pacemaker

These devices, including deep brain stimulators, send electrical impulses to the brain in order to relieve depression, epilepsy, tremors of Parkinson's disease, and other conditions. "Brain pacemakers" are used to treat people who suffer from Epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, major depression and other diseases In Neurotechnology, deep brain stimulation ( DBS) is a surgical treatment involving the implantation of a medical device called a Brain pacemaker Major depressive disorder, also known as major depression, unipolar depression, unipolar disorder, clinical depression, or simply depression Epilepsy is a common chronic Neurological disorder that is characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Tremor is an unintentional somewhat rhythmic muscle movement involving to-and-from movements (oscillations of one or more parts of the body Parkinson's disease (also known as Parkinson disease or PD) is a degenerative disorder of the Central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's Rather than replacing existing neural networks to restore function, these devices often serve by disrupting the output of existing malfunctioning nerve centers to eliminate symptoms. In Neuroscience, a neural network describes a population of physically interconnected Neurons or a group of disparate neurons whose inputs or signalling targets define

Artificial cardia

This pertains to gastric repairs, specifically of the valves at either end of the stomach. The cardia (also known as Z-line or esophagogastric junction or gastroesophageal junction) is the anatomical term for the junction orifice of In Human anatomy, the stomach is a J-shaped hollow muscular organ of the Gastrointestinal tract involved in the second phase of Digestion, following Artificial cardia can be used to fight, between other diseases, esophageal cancer, achalasia and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the Esophagus. There are various subtypes Achalasia, also known as esophageal achalasia, achalasia cardiae, cardiospasm, dyssynergia esophagus, and esophageal aperistalsis Gastroesophageal reflux disease ( American English and Canadian English) or Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease ( British English, Hiberno-English

Artificial corpora cavernosa

To treat erectile disfunction, both corpora cavernosa can be irreversibly surgically replaced with manually inflatable penile implants. The corpus cavernosum penis is one of a pair of sponge-like regions of Erectile tissue which contain most of the Blood in the male Penis during Erection Penis enlargement procedures (sometimes euphemistically referred to as "male enhancement procedures" in spam email and television advertisements are techniques This is a drastic therapeutic surgery meant only for men suffering from complete impotence that has resisted all other treatment approaches.

An implanted pump in the (groin) or (scrotum) can be manipulated by hand to fill these artificial cylinders, normally sized to be direct replacements for the natural corpus cavernosa, from an implanted reservoir in order to achieve an erection.

Artificial ear

For external cosmetic repair see Plastic Surgery. Plastic surgery is a medical specialty interested in the correction of form and function

For internal restoration of auditory function see Cochlear implant. A cochlear implant (CI is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of Sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing While natural hearing, to the level of musical quality, is not typically achieved, most recipients are pleased, with some finding it useful enough to return to their surgeon with a request to do the other ear.

Artificial eye

The most successful function-replacing artificial eye so far is actually an external miniature digital camera with a remote unidirectional electronic interface implanted on the retina, optic nerve, or other related locations inside the brain. For the non-functional prosthesis or glass eye see Ocular prosthesis and Craniofacial prosthesis. Many compact digital still cameras can record Sound and moving Video as well as still Photograph. Electronics refers to the flow of charge (moving Electrons through Nonmetal conductors (mainly Semiconductors, whereas electrical The vertebrate retina is a light sensitive part inside the inner layer of the Eye. The optic nerve, also called cranial nerve II, is the Nerve that transmits visual information from the Retina to the Brain. The brain is the center of the Nervous system in animals All Vertebrates and the majority of Invertebrates have a brain The present state of the art yields only very partial functionality, such as recognizing levels of brightness, swatches of color, and/or basic geometric shapes, proving the concept's potential. While the living eye is indeed a camera, it is also much more than that.

As explained in the main article about the retina, various researchers have demonstrated that the retina performs strategic image preprocessing for the brain. The vertebrate retina is a light sensitive part inside the inner layer of the Eye. An image (from Latin imago) or picture is an artifact usually two-dimensional that has a similar appearance to some subject &mdashusually The problem of creating a 100% functional artificial electronic eye is even more complex than what is already obvious. Steadily increasing complexity of the artificial connection to the retina, optic nerve or related brain areas advances, combined with ongoing advances in computer science, is expected to dramatically improve the performance of this technology. Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their

For the person whose damaged or diseased living eye retains some function, other options superior to the electronic eye described above may be available, as explained in the main article Visual prosthetic. For the non-functional prosthesis or glass eye see Ocular prosthesis and Craniofacial prosthesis.

None of the current devices presents the cosmetic appearance of a living eye. For the nonfunctional cosmetic artificial eye, generically a "glass" eye, please see instead Ocular prosthetic. An ocular prosthesis or Artificial eye (a type of Craniofacial prosthesis) replaces an absent natural Eye following an Enucleation, evisceration

Heart

Artificial heart

While considered a success, the use of artificial hearts is limited to patients awaiting transplants whose death is imminent. An artificial heart is a prosthetic device that is implanted into the body to replace the biological Heart. The current state of the art devices are unable to reliably sustain life beyond about 18 months.

Artificial Pacemakers

These electronic devices, which can either intermittently augment (defibrillator mode), continuously augment, or completely bypass the natural living cardiac pacemaker as needed, are so successful, they have become commonplace. For other uses see Pacemaker (disambiguation A pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the heart's natural pacemaker Electronics refers to the flow of charge (moving Electrons through Nonmetal conductors (mainly Semiconductors, whereas electrical The contractions of the Heart are controlled by chemical impulses which fire at a rate which controls the beat of the heart

Artificial limbs

Artificial arms with semi-functional hands, some even fitted with working opposable "thumbs" plus 2 "fingers", and legs with shock absorbing feet capable of allowing a trained patient to even run, have become available. The thumb is the medial -most digit of the hand The English adjective for thumb is pollical While the meaning of "full mobility" is debated, steady progress is made, as described in the main article Prosthesis. In Medicine, a prosthesis (plural prostheses) is an Artificial extension that replaces a missing Body part.

Artificial liver

Bioartificial liver, currently under development by Hepalife, is designed to operate outside the patient's body. The liver is a vital organ in the human body and is present in Vertebrates and some other animals The machine mimics important functions of the human liver by circulating the patient's blood inside the bioreactor unit of the artificial liver device where it is exposed to liver cells. [1]

On the other hand, Researchers Dr. Colin McGucklin, Professor of Regenerative Medicine at Newcastle University, and Dr. Newcastle University is a leading research intensive University located in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east of England. Nico Forraz, Senior Research Associate and Clinical Sciences Business Manager at Newcastle University, say that pieces of artificial liver could be used to repair livers injured in the next five years. These artificial livers could also be used outside the body in a manner analogous to the dialysis process used to keep alive patients whose kidneys have failed. [2] [3]

Artificial lungs

With some almost fully functional, artificial lung promise to be a great success in near future. An artificial lung is a prosthetic device that is implanted into the body to replace the biological Lung (s

Artificial pancreas

For the treatment of diabetes, numerous promising techniques are currently being tested, including some that incorporate donated living tissue housed in special materials to prevent the patient's immune system from killing the foreign live components. The artificial pancreas is a technology in development to help people with Diabetes automatically control their Blood glucose level by providing the substitute Diabetes mellitus (ˌdaɪəˈbiːtiːz or /ˌdaɪəˈbiːtəs/ /məˈlaɪtəs/ or /ˈmɛlətəs/ often referred to simply as diabetes ( Ancient Greek: grc

Artificial urinary bladder

This represents a unique success in that these are autologous laboratory-grown living replacements, as opposed to most other artificial organs which depend upon electro-mechanical contrivances, and may or may not incorporate any living tissue. An artificial urinary bladder is an artificial Urinary bladder organ.

Beyond Restoration

It is also possible to construct and install an artificial organ to give its possessor abilities which are not naturally occurring. Research is proceeding, particularly in areas of vision, memory, and information processing, however this idea is still in its infancy. In Psychology, visual perception is the ability to interpret information from Visible light reaching the Eyes The resulting Perception is also In Psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store retain and subsequently retrieve information Information processing is the change (processing of Information in any manner detectable by an observer.

Some current research focuses on restoring inoperative short-term memory in accident victims and lost access to long-term memory in dementia patients. Research is defined as Human activity based on Intellectual application in the investigation of Matter. Short-term memory, sometimes referred to as "primary" "working" or "active" Memory, is said to hold a small amount of information for about 20 Long-term memory ( LTM) is Memory that can last as little as a few days or as long as decades Success here would lead to widespread interest in applications for persons whose memory is considered healthy to dramatically enhance their memory of far beyond what can be achieved with mnemonic techniques. A mnemonic device (nəˈmɒnɪk is a Memory aid Commonly met mnemonics are often verbal something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember Given that our understanding of how living memory actually works is incomplete, it is unlikely this scenario will become reality in the near future.

One area of success was achieved in 2002 when a British Scientist, Kevin Warwick, had an array of 100 electrodes fired in to his nervous system in order to link his nervous system into the internet. Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954 Coventry, UK is a British scientist and professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading With this in place he carried out a series of experiments including extending his nervous system over the internet to control a robotic hand, a form of extended sensory input and the first direct electronic communication between the nervous systems of two humans[4].

Another idea with significant consequences is that of implanting a Language Translator for diplomatic and military applications. Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text likewise called a " translation While machine translation does exist, it is presently neither good nor small enough to fulfill its promise. Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation

This might also include the existing (and controversial when applied to humans) practice of implanting subcutaneous "chips" (integrated circuits) for identification and location purposes. The subcutaneous tissue or subcutis is the layer of Loose connective tissue directly underlying the Dermis. Microchipsjpg|right|thumb|200px|Microchips ( EPROM memory with a transparent window showing the integrated circuit inside An example of this is the RFID tags made by VeriChip Corporation. Radio-frequency identification ( RFID) is an automatic identification method relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or

References

  1. ^ http://www.hepalife.com/artificial_liver.php#liver
  2. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-413551/British-scientists-grow-human-liver-laboratory.html
  3. ^ http://www.livescience.com/health/061031_artif_liver.html
  4. ^ Warwick,K, Gasson,M, Hutt,B, Goodhew,I, Kyberd,P, Schulzrinne,H and Wu,X: “Thought Communication and Control: A First Step using Radiotelegraphy”, IEE Proceedings on Communications, 151(3), pp. 185-189, 2004

See also

External links

Bionics (also known as biomimetics, biognosis, Biomimicry, or bionical creativity engineering) is the application of biological A cochlear implant (CI is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of Sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing In Biology, an organ ( Latin: organum, "instrument tool" from Greek όργανον - organon "organ instrument In Medicine, a prosthesis (plural prostheses) is an Artificial extension that replaces a missing Body part.
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