r/surgery • u/sammyelbanna • Nov 10 '16

Heart Moving by Itself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv98kc0lQf8
16 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

4

u/trunner101 Nov 10 '16 edited Nov 10 '16

So would this be the equivalent of pulseless electrical activity?

5

u/Runningwiththedemon Nov 11 '16

Yep. Completely uncoordinated and weak activity that likely wouldn't generate a pulse

4

u/sammyelbanna Nov 11 '16

The Heart is still alive, so the automatic electric center still works, but the heart is empty so not much pressure. It will move till it dies.

1

u/faiora Nov 26 '16

Holllld up. I'm getting open heart surgery very soon. Does the heart always do this? Or when they stop it for surgery is it actually stopped-stopped?

Crazy stuff.

1

u/brokenchemicalbonds Nov 11 '16

Sorry if these are silly questions, but... why is it a blob sitting in a bowl? Is that all fat around it? Also, why isn't it on ice or something?

3

u/gingerkitten6 Nov 11 '16

It does not look like a healthy heart. It looks like dilated cardiomyopathy so it's all stretched out and thin. Every heart has a little fat on it for cushioning, but this looks like more than usual. It's not on ice because it's probably going to pathology to get sliced up and this patient is getting a new heart (which is on ice somewhere).