|
|
The Phrenic Nerve Pacemaker
You would swear Jeff is breathing on
his own. He sits in his wheelchair, the air goes in and out through his nose
and mouth, and he talks to you. You assume he is breathing. But, actually, he
is not.
A small black
box is the brains of a system that operates Jeff’s diaphragm
and lungs by remote control. Twelve times each minute, the box sends out an
electric pulse through two supple white wires. At the end of each wire is a
round flat antenna, stuck to Jeff’s upper chest
with tape. Two small receivers have been
implanted in his chest. Each is the size of a soda bottle cap. The left
antenna encircles the left receiver; the right antenna encircles the right
receiver. Each receiver has a stainless steel shielded wire snaking its way to
the left or right phrenic nerve, running down the
sides of Jeff's neck. When the black box sends a signal, the antennae pass it
to the receivers which pass it to the phrenic nerves, which pass it to the
muscles of the diaphragm. The muscles twitch, the
diaphragm moves, and the vacuum caused by their motion draws air into Jeff’s
lungs.
Twelve times each minute. Or faster
or slower, simply by turning dials on the external control box.
 Talk
about a liberating technology. Jeff can move more easily throughout the world,
and less conspicuously, because most of the bulky, complicated, and scary vent
equipment has been stripped off his chair. Jeff can talk more naturally
because all of the air passes over his vocal cords. The air is naturally
moisturized. And gone is the constant noise from a ventilator machine’s
compressor or turbine. Jeff can sit next to you at a movie, and you won’t
notice that he is breathing with mechanical assistance.
One morning Jeff's neurosurgeon
implanted the receivers, wires, and nerve
connections in Jeff's chest and neck during a several-hour procedure at
which a manufacturer’s technician attended to provide technical assistance.
Believe it or not, it was an out-patient procedure. Jeff was home by
mid-afternoon.
For more information, visit the
site.
Some patients are able to survive
using their phrenic nerve pacers 24
hours a day. Others can use them only a few hours a day; and some never adapt
to the system at all. Jeff was using his 24 hours a day for a few days, but
then found it was better to use it only during the daytime. At night when he
goes to sleep he switches to his bedside
vent machine, a standard compressor model.
|
