January 2010:

Humans and Machines

Living with the Spare Parts of Cardiac Medicine

Are we all on the way to becoming cyborgs? Probably we have always been on the way there, since the desire to imitate nature in order to restore lost functions of the human body is very old and has always been particularly strong when wars and epidemics have threatened humanity. The wooden leg or the gold facial epithesis represent the oldest attempts to restore physical integrity and to reintegrate those affected into the social community.

 

This interesting subject was addressed by the DHZB cardiac surgeon Prof. Miralem Pasic in the Charité lecture series on “Cosmos and Humans” held at the Maxim Gorki Theater, in which he spoke about “Prostheses in modern medicine – Living with the spare parts of cardiac medicine.”

 

Today we marvel almost daily at news of the development of artificial eyes that allow the blind to see, ear implantations that let the deaf hear, or artificial hearts that bring moribund patients back to life. Artificial knee and hip joints, contact lenses or simple cardiac pacemakers are hardly even spoken about ‑ so normal have these prosthetic parts become in our everyday lives.

 

The word “cyborg” (an artificial creation based on “cybernetic organism”) refers to a mixture between a human and a machine. “Cyborgization” is a process that may be identified in cardiac medicine, for example in the form of the artificial heart valve, vessel prostheses that release medication, specialized defibrillators, and different circulatory support systems for the left and/or right heart chamber for children and adults.

 

After the lecture the audience had the opportunity to discuss the topic with the speaker.