why do people prefer artificial hearts?

Question

rather than human heart transplant

Answer 1

People don't prefer them. Far from it. The problem is finding a 'donor', so to speak.

When you recieve a transplant of most tissues, you have two choices: either get a nearly perfect HLA match, or take drugs which suppress your immune system for the rest of your life.

HLA stands for Human Leukocyte Antigen. It represents everything that's normally in a human body that can possibly cause an immune system to react. Think of the blood type system: blood has three antigens on it, which is why we have to be careful in making sure everyone gets the right kind of blood. Tissue has many more antigens of many different types. Finding a match can be difficult indeed... sometimes the odds are more than one in a million.

And organs can't last forever. Usually from the time an organ for transplant is available, it only has hours (or less) to be put inside someone else. With some few exceptions, we can't just toss organs in a freezer and wait for a match to show up. Instead it has to go the other way around - someone with a need has to be kept alive somehow long enough for a proper match to turn up in the tissue bank. This is why there are many, many people who receive regular dialysis instead of just getting a new kidney.

The drug solution is, if anything, worse. If your immune system has to be constantly suppresed, lest it decide to try and kill parts that you need, then you may instead be killed by any other infection that wanders by. And if you ever miss a dose or acceidentally recieve the wrong organ anyway (it's happened, sadly) then the reaction of your immune system itself may kill you with massive fevers and huge volumes of rejected tissue which clogs other systems and so on. A train wreck waiting to happen, but probably better than being dead outright, for those who have no other choice.

Given these options, I'm sure you can see why an artificial heart seems like a dandy solution. Sure, they have their problems, but usually rejection isn't one of them. This is also part of why tissue cloning is so ardently sought after by biologists - if they can produce a heart with exactly the same genetics (or maybe even BETTER genetics) than the host had, then the only risk becomes the surgery itself!

Answer 2

I think its because most people would rather NOT think about having someone else's tissues and bodily fluids in them. Also, there is a lot of mythology and sayings that enter our subconscious about how our personality and decision making is directed by the heart and not the brain. Examples are "Follow your heart", Broken hearted", and "she wears her heart on her sleeve". There is also the conscious knowledge that somebody else had to die for you to live.

Answer 3

I could need to say an unconquerable brain could make a individual the most powerful, for if one has a middle susceptable to breakage, a powerful brain can lead you out of the pit of heartache and depression. An indestructable frame is not anything if it does not posess the powerful brain to consultant it by way of lifes mysteries. Yes, an immortal soul could be approximately the most powerful function to receive, however even a powerful unconqerable brain can reflect on easy methods to damage that very immortal soul and deliver it to nought. So I could need to say that a unconquerable brain could make one the most powerful.

Answer 4

They probably figure they are more reliable. Also, I think with some people there is just something too spooky about someone else's heart beating in their chest. It may be a religious thing for some, as well.

Answer 5

Well you can get a new one if someone breaks it - just kidding.

Perhaps one has to live with the thought that someone had to die for him to survive.