Brain and Spinal Cord Lesions with Long-Term Total Artificial Heart Pumping

Electronmicroscopic Changes in Selected Vital Organs After Long‐Term Total Artificial Heart Pumping in Animal Experiments

“…Except for the measures aimed at preventing calcification (1,2), in 1 group the antihypertensive treatment for securing a longer survival was used. Intercurrent infections with the administration of antibiotics, blood coagulation disorders with either bleeding or thrombi formation, further hemolysis (3) can induce some organ changes, sometimes even in the central nervous system (4),which can be compatible with a longer survival. Nevertheless, electronmicroscopic (EM) examination can reveal ultrastructural changes which can either be transient or lead to a serious organ functional and morphological destruction, which also can be confirmed by autopsy and light microscopy, with the fatal outcome of the experiment.…”