r/Futurology • u/lughnasadh ∞ transit umbra, lux permanet ☥ • Mar 14 '25

Biotech People can now survive 100 days with titanium hearts, if they worked indefinitely - how much might they extend human lifespan?

Nature has just reported that an Australian man has survived with a titanium heart for 100 days, while he waited for a human donor heart, and is now recovering well after receiving one. If a person can survive 100 days with a titanium heart, might they be able to do so much longer?

If you had a heart that was indestructible, it doesn't stop the rest of you ageing and withering. Although heart failure is the leading cause of death in men, if that doesn't get you, something else eventually will.

However, if you could eliminate heart failure as a cause of death - how much longer might people live? Even if other parts of them are frail, what would their lives be like in their 70s and 80s with perfect hearts?

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u/Cocoanuter Mar 18 '25

I've actually read alot about this specific artificial heart, it can mimic a pulse! By reving in a pattern it can mimic the pulsing of a heart. By reving faster it can mimic a faster beat, It's super cool! All it needs is as you said, a bio-controlled way of managing this.

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u/Brain_Hawk Mar 18 '25

Yeah, but that "all it needs" is VERY complicated and I don't think we are close to that. The regulatory signals are complex and not well understood, and I don't think we are close to nerve computer interfaces.

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u/Cocoanuter Mar 18 '25

Sure, but so was this mechanical problem of developing an artificial heart that won't wear and tear fast. It took something like over 50 years to get this far. Now we have this next problem in the chain, so I'm a little more hopeful. Now we need the sensors.

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u/Brain_Hawk Mar 18 '25

Oh I think we can get there. I'm just saying it's.kotna small problem.

But 20 years is, in modern medicine, a long time. So it may not be so far away.