The curious case of a man who had a heart attack… in both hearts

In 2010, a 71-year-old man went to hospital in the city. Veronain Italy, with great difficulty breathing. Everything pointed to the fact that he was giving him acute cardiovascular disease, but so special that none of the doctors who treated him had encountered anything like it. And in fact, the attack affected not just one person, but himself. two hearts

Indeed, this vital organ was duplicated in this person. I wasn’t born this way. His rare disease was the result transfer did some time ago. Although we understand that organ transplantation is always performed after the damaged organ has been removed, there are exceptions. In the case of the heart, this is very rare, but sometimes it can even be positive, since the donor heart connects to the recipient so that he or she can regain some of his or her lost abilities.

Additionally, if the donor’s heart fails, it can remain in the recipient’s body long enough to restart your heart and that another transplant is no longer needed. Doctors thought that with two organs this Italian patient would have a better chance of survival, but it so happened that he had an attack that affected both organs. Without a doubt, the situation was very peculiar, but the doctors knew how to act.

One attack and two hearts

The patient, the protagonist of this story, suffered from a rare disease known as dilated cardiomyopathy. This happens when heart muscle It becomes weak and elongated, so that the heart cannot pump blood properly. It is characterized by symptoms such as chest pain, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath and irregular heartbeat. In addition, they often swell. feet and ankles.

After diagnosis in 2001, an attempt was made to monitor the patient’s heart rate using pacemaker. However, this did not help, so he was put on the waiting list for a heart transplant. When a donor was found in 2003, his case was deemed viable. save both hearts. This is usually done when the donor’s heart is somewhat damaged or when the recipient’s heart can still try to recover.

They decided that this Italian did not have such a bad heart, so they began to unite their chambers and blood vessels with the heart of a giver. In short, his chest began to house two hearts.

He survived in this state for 7 years, but eventually one of his two organs began to fail, leading to a dangerous domino effect.

Double wrong rhythm

When the patient arrived at the hospital, his own heart was beating at a breakneck speed. wrong rhythm however, the donor’s heart rate was normal, but slightly faster than usual. The problem arose when the connection between the two hearts turned against the transplanted organ. It also started beating irregularly, to the point where it caused loss of consciousness of the patient.

Moreover, he stopped breathing, and it seemed that both hearts began to stop. They had to remove the defibrillator and give it an electric shock, which fortunately returned their hearts to normal beating.

The patient remained hospitalized and underwent further surgery before discharge. Not to remove one of his hearts, but to replace the pacemaker he still had with a pacemaker. implantable defibrillator.

The study reporting this case was published two years later. It was then noted that the patient good health. 15 years have passed and we have no more information about this; but at least we know he had a second chance. And a third one. And all thanks to the exciting power of science.