Word: ventricular
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...drug can act in a number of ways to cause death. It can interfere with the electrical system of the heart or brain, causing the heart to go into ventricular fibrillation, a purposeless twitching that quickly results in death. In addition, cocaine may bring on a cardiac event by temporarily constricting arteries...
...William Pierce of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. It has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for temporary use only and is designed to overcome the blood-clotting problems that have plagued Jarvik-7 recipients. Dallara, meanwhile, was connected to a pair of external pumps called ventricular assist devices, which are ordinarily used singly to help heart patients recover after surgery. When used in pairs, VADs can take over the work of both the left and the right pumping chambers and serve as a complete artificial heart...
...femoral artery to continue its natural circulation. The heart is left intact but goes on a sort of holiday, rebuilding its strength so that it can later resume its full work load. Says John C. Norman of the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, who has been working on left ventricular devices since 1965: "If I take your heart out and put in a totally artificial heart, I have burned all bridges. If I put in an auxiliary heart, your own heart is still in and can help support the circulation...
Each year 300,000 people in the U.S. die from cardiac arrest, usually caused by uncontrolled contraction of muscle fibers in the heart's pumping chambers. Known as ventricular fibrillation, these attacks cut off circulation and halt the flow of blood to the brain. Only powerful electrical shocks administered directly to the chest or heart with bulky machines called defibrillators seem to stop such life-threatening episodes. But all too often, victims are stricken at home or in the streets and help does not arrive in time...
...emotional reaction appears physiologically as "ventricular fibrillation" which Lown said is "disorganized and erratic contractions of the heart which leads rapidly to death...