WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: Pacemakers Got the Beat 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.000 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.040 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.240 and I love all things tech. And it is time 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:26.440 once again, my friends, for a classic episode, and this 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.760 one published on October ninth, two thousand thirteen. It is 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:34.239 titled Pacemakers Got the Beat. This just reminds me of 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.320 how much work I put into making really really cringe 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.480 e titles back in the day. I still do it occasionally, 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:43.599 but man, I was really on a role in two 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:48.000 thousand thirteen. Let's listen in to this classic episode. What 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.320 do you mean electrical impulses? That's that's how the heart works. 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.760 There's crazy there. We we we have natural pacemakers, and 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.920 sometimes they work less well than others, but so yeah, 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.400 so so. Pacemakers are are small divice is that are 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:05.200 implanted nearish the heart in the general just air, cavity, shoulder, 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:09.000 abdomen somewhere on there. They use low energy electrical impulses 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:13.600 to help control any abnormal heart rhythms um sometimes called 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.240 rhythmias rhythmia. Thank you. I had an arrhythmia as a child, 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.840 did you Yeah, I had a arrhythmia and a heart murmur. Wow, 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.720 that's exciting in the bad way. So anyway, so those 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:26.840 can be that your heart is beating either too fast, 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.199 too slow, or irregularly. And um, there are more long 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.080 words for all of those things, which right, there's there's 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:37.319 a tachycardia there you go, yeah, and breda cardia. Yes, 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.520 so those are the too so brada cardias if it's 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.920 beating too slowly, and tachycardia is when it's too quickly. Sure, 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:49.000 there's also other conditions that can that can wrap up 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:54.520 into needing a pacemaker, a k A. Atrial fibrilation in 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:56.680 which the upper chambers of the heart kind of quiver 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.840 instead of really contracting. Yeah. So, in order for you 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:02.120 to really understand what we're talking about here, the heart 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.480 is divided up into four chambers right right, the left 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.040 and right atria, which are the upper chambers, and the 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:10.440 left and right ventricles, which are the lower chambers. Right, 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.760 So the upper chamber chambers, the atria when they when 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.360 they contract, they force blood down into the ventricles, which 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:18.959 then when they can try to force it throughout the 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.040 rest of the body. And so the combination of these 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.480 two contractions are what we think of the heartbeat. The 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.840 whole love dub dub is that. Yeah, So that's you know, 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:31.680 the love the atria and the dub the ventricles. So 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.200 you know that there's just plenty of room for romance. 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.280 But so if if if one of these is not 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.600 working out correctly, then it's huge problem. Right. So, if 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:45.520 the atria are doing this fibrillation where they are quivering 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.040 instead of beating, then it's not providing the right amount 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:50.760 of blood to the ventricles to pump it through the 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.400 rest of the body. That's all obviously an issue, but 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:55.880 there's another one to write. There's also heart block, in 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.720 which the electrical signal is slowed or disrupted as it 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:02.440 moves through the heart. So again problem with actually the 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.120 signal reaching the place where it needs to go so 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:08.360 that you have a healthy heartbeat. Right. It's it's like 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.280 if the cover on your wire is a little bit 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.760 screwy something something to that extent, except the wires your 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.480 heart and you need that wire pretty badly. Yeah, and 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:21.120 it's it's um unless you're the tin man, you pretty 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.000 much need one. And these conditions can be caused by 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:28.160 all kinds of disease and other wackiness that could be. 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.919 It could be an inherited condition. It can be after 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.120 a heart attack if if a heart attack damages the muscle, right, yeah, 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.240 there are injuries that can end up injuring the heart 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.240 as a as a result. Yeah. So there's lots of 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:41.800 different ways that this could happen, including things like just 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:46.520 coming out of a surgery that's unrelated to your heart. Sure, absolutely, Okay, So, 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.640 so what happens when your heart lacks rhythm? You can 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:55.280 no longer do really crazy dances like the electric slide. Okay, 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.040 true enough. However, it mostly means that your body might 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.680 not be getting enough blood, which would cause a tiredness, lightheadedness, 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:06.280 breathlessness even like fainting, organ damage, and and can potentially 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:10.320 even lead to death if it goes unchecked. Yeah. Yeah, 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.000 so we're talking about very serious stuff. Now. A healthy 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:18.120 adult has a heart rate at rest, that's what between 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.719 sixty beats permant something like that. Yep, yep. So um, 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.679 mind's on the high end, which is actually not great. 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.120 It means that, honestly, that Jonathan needs to exercise more 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.440 so that I have a healthier cardio life. And that's 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.920 something that I am working on because it's a concern, right, 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.440 I'm getting I'm getting to a certain age um physically, 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.640 if not mentally or emotionally, so I need to prepare 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.760 for that. Generally, slower heartbeat within that range is is 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.440 ideal um and healthy heartbeats are regular because we have, 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.640 like I said earlier, those built in pacemakers. Those are 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.719 the sino artrial I said that, right, Yes, the nodes 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:58.720 which the at the at the upper right. Okay, gotcha. 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.200 So yeah, so it's this is kind of the signal 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:06.479 that lets the atria no to to contract. So once 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:10.200 that signal goes through to contract the atria, what happens then, Like, 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.479 how is it then move onto the ventricle um It 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:19.359 passes through another node, the atrio ventricular nod. Well, yeah, okay, cool, 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:21.840 So you got two nodes that are doing this and 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.080 they're doing it in a very precise rhythm so that 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.880 it creates this contraction that that then pumps the blood 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.760 through the rest of the body. Right, And if that's 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.480 you know, atrial node isn't working properly, the atrio ventricular 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.000 node can take over for it, but it's a it's 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.800 it's a weaker force so it's not as efficient. It's 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:41.680 not as efficient. It's only going to get you up 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.280 to about forty beats per minute, which, um, is why 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.159 you're going to encounter that fatigue and breathlessness and stuff 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.240 like that. Right, So you'll you'll you'll live, but you'll 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.359 be getting an increasingly poor condition. Right, Um, So what 0:05:55.440 --> 0:06:00.240 do pacemakers do. Pacemakers can can regulate that they can 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.560 help slow the rhythm of a too fast heartbeat or 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:07.159 help control and a regular too fast rhythm or too 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:12.080 slow rhythm. So they can they can monitor the impulses 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.720 and override it or pulses, I guess I should say, 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.200 and override it so that it has a more regular 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:21.679 heartbeat and keep someone at an optimal heartbeat range. Right. Sure, 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.360 And and if those if those two nodes are not 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.440 communicating properly, a pacemaker can help coordinate the electrical signals 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.400 between them, I see. So if maybe the sino ore 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:36.599 atrial nodes working just fine, but perhaps the ventricular ones not, 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.119 then this could help balance that balance that out right? Sure? 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.600 And it does this because okay, So, so a pacemaker 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:47.080 is essentially a very small generator hooked up to a 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.160 battery and a computer. Again, very small battery and very 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:54.279 small computer. You have to be implanted the implant, sure UM, 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.880 and wires are threaded from the pacemaker through a vein 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.080 to the heart. UM. Those wires being tipped with electrodes, 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.919 and the electrodes detect your heart's electrical activity and rhythm 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.320 and then send that information to the computer which will 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:11.080 monitor them um and then uh it will direct the 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.320 generator to fire whenever the signals go go wonkey, all right. 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.400 So what the computer is doing is looking for any irregularities, 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:22.040 addresses that right right UM. It can also record these 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.000 signals for your doctor to upload and used to adjust 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.760 your pacemaker UM using a wireless device. They don't have 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.000 to do surgery on you and check it because they 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.840 want to check it about quarterly, so that would be messy. 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.040 So this is kind of like a very important version 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.920 of a physical activity tracker. It's keeping data on the 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.200 activity of your heart and letting your doctor know exactly 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.760 what's going on right right um. In some cases, that 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:47.160 onboard computer can even be accessed remotely via the interwebs. 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.840 So for those of you who are privacy worried about 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:53.840 that kind of thing. The idea that your heart rate 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.440 is being monitored remotely, maybe not for you. I actually 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.960 think I actually think it's super awesome, Like the idea 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:04.400 that that a doctor would have that level of granular 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:09.200 information about a patient's health and and even be able 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:13.520 to preemptively tell the patient, Hey, I'm detecting some unusual 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.200 readings here. Could you come in so that we can 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:18.520 make sure that you are in good shape. You're in 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.160 good shape and that it's not an equipment malfunction. And 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:23.600 you know, obviously that would be incredibly important. And if 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.400 it were, you know, I mean there's some some people 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.240 have pacemakers who are who are basically doing okay, it's 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:32.559 more precautionary, and but there are other very life threatening 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:38.240 ventricular diseases. Sure, sure, yeah, some models, called great responsive 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.160 models will actually adjust to your heart rate to your 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.760 changes in activity. Gotcha is like, which again makes sense. 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.600 For example, like if you're exerting yourself, then you might 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.920 need a different heart rate than if you were at rest. 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.480 And h That's why I remember older pacemakers that was 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:56.840 a real challenge because they would they would keep a 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.360 very steady heart rate, which was great. But if you 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.680 break into a ask jog, your heart wouldn't be able 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.000 to keep up when the and the computer would start misfiring. 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:08.960 So that was a real issue. Sure, sure, So so 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.080 there are three basic types of pacemakers. You've got single 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.800 chamber which carry impulses from the generator to the heart's 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.240 right ventricle, Dual chamber which carry those impulses to the 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.400 right ventricle and the right atrium um and and also 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.880 helped coordinate the timing between the two. And then you've 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:28.040 got bi ventricular which which carry those impulses to the 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:32.319 right atrium and both ventricles helping coordinate all of the signals. 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:35.240 And uh, those are yeah, for for as you can imagine, 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:39.080 those those are increasing in seriousness right right obviously because 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:41.160 you're talking about having to take over more and more 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.480 of the hearts activity. They are all they're also related 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:49.000 UM implantable cardio verter cardioverter Did I say that right? Yes, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.640 implantable cardioverter defibrillators which UM use not only those low 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.400 end energy impulses that a regular pacemaker would use, but 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:00.520 also UM higher high energy impulses when necessary to treat 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.000 very life threatening So like if you're for example, there 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:07.240 I'll talk about some of the early ones of this. 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.959 But there are some devices that let's say the detects 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.240 that your heart that maybe you're going into cardiac arrest, 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.320 it can actually deliver a strong enough electrical impulse to possibly, 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.559 you know, kickstart your heart going again. So it ends 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:22.680 up being like you know, if you guys have ever 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:26.360 seen any medical procedural, you have obviously seen the person 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:31.520 with which they usually use incorrectly. Yeah, the clear part 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.960 is important, by the way, Yes, but now he's doing 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.679 poorly from too much electric um. Yeah, that's ah. This 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.000 is something that's sort of an implantable device that does 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.000 a similar thing, although it does it in a very 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.640 precise way because it's delivering it directly to the heart 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:53.079 and um and and not every pacemaker does this. Um. 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.000 They can also, like Jonathan said earlier, be temporary if 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.120 you've just had if you've just had a heart attacker, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.520 surgery or perhaps overdose. While while the patient is in 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.320 the hospital with these kinds of issues, they might have 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.320 a temporary pacemaker. UM. And of course the permanent ones, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.920 which is more what we've been talking about. I mean, 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.720 they wouldn't implant a temporary one, right, Yeah. In fact, 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.160 the earliest pacemakers are more like what you would see 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.720 with a temporary pacemaker. I mean far the temporary ones 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.360 that we use now are far more sophisticated. Of course, 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.320 orders of magnitude more sophisticated. But the ideas that you 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.360 would have an external device that would be able, you know, 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:32.200 anyone could monitor and also be able to like a 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.400 medical professional would be able to disconnect it once that 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.560 was a viable option, and wires would go into you, 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.480 which is kind of, you know, depending upon your level 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.600 of comfort, a little squeaky, but I'm honestly pretty squeaked 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.880 out by the entire wire through a vein thing. Yeah, well, 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:51.960 just wait till we talk about the history of pacemakers, 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.400 because that's going to get really interesting. I'm glad you 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:58.360 took that research. So, in the case of permanent pacemakers, 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.959 batteries and generated as usually have to be replaced every 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.920 five to fifteen years, usually about six or seven. It's 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.079 really the batteries start running down, and they figure, while 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.040 we're performing surgery on you, we might as well change 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:12.680 out the generator to make sure that it doesn't start 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:14.600 running down to right right, so that way, and it 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.480 actually decreases the number of surgeries you would need over 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.720 the lifetime, over your lifetime, right sure, yeah, the lifetime 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.679 of the product, your lifetime. Um and the wires may 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.240 eventually need to be replaced as well, but that's that's 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.640 more case to case basis. Right now, we talked about 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.760 in our Electronics and f A a episode about electromagnetic 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.400 interference and even discussed a little bit about how people 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:43.120 with pacemakers need to be careful around devices that emit 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.440 E m I, which is pretty much anything that's electrical, right, right, 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.360 And that's because like any electrical signal, the impulse is 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.280 sent by pacemaker can be disrupted by an electromagnetic field. Yeah. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:57.280 So now, granted, in most cases, the instructions you get 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.760 are pretty pretty common sense. Yeah, and stuff like don't 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.760 don't lay down and put a laptop computer or a 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.360 cell phone or for your heart. Yeah you don't wanna, 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.439 don't wanna have like your cell phone in your shirt 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.600 pocket for example, right right? You know, avoid brushing up 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:18.120 next to strong household appliances, industrial welders. Don't lay directly 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:20.800 against the microwave as you wait for that sweet sweet 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.760 popcorn to be delivered to your hands. You know, keep 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.920 keep it keep your generators. You're you're larger than your 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.679 heart generator, generator at arm's length that don't use jackhammers 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.040 kind of that kind of thing, never do and everyone 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:36.719 thanks me. Yeah, So it's and you know, I mean, 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.040 things like metal detectors are are fine if they're you know, 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:43.240 I it's you're supposed to tell security agents like, hey, 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.319 I've got this pacemaker thing, please don't kill me, and 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:47.960 and they will know how to deal with that. Yeah. 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.440 So it's it's certainly one of those things that does mean, 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:52.560 you know, you have to take that into account in 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:57.240 your lifestyle. Sure, but it's also development that has, like 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:02.960 we said, given on a huge number of people a 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:08.560 chance at a healthy life that otherwise they would not have. Hey, guys, 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.960 it's Jonathan from twenty. We're going to take a break 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:15.560 on this episode about pacemakers to thank our sponsors, but 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:25.880 we'll be right back now. Let's get back to talking 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:30.320 about pacemakers now. In this particular episode, we kind of 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.960 divided up the research of it, so Lauren ended up 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:36.880 looking a lot at how the heart works and how 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.200 pacemakers tend to work. If you guys have ever listened 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:42.440 to for thinking, you know, that I am the medical correspondent. Yeah, 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.600 we we make her look at all the squeaky stuff 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.880 so we don't have to because she likes squeaky stuff 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:52.120 like um, although slime, I would slime is really great, guys. 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.000 Although I would I would argue glancing through your notes 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.920 here for the history that you actually got the short 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.280 end of the squick stap. You know what. This This 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.360 is why I never used the phrase quick stick. This 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.120 is a this is entering into a realm that I 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.440 actually relish. I because we're talking about a realm of 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:16.120 scientific exploration that definitely goes on that mad scientist side 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.280 of the scale. I mean, in that really cool kind 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.840 of Victorian era. And this this is the same era 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:24.200 where we saw things like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein be published, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.600 and so that's you know, and and some of the 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.440 stuff that was being talked about and discovered at this 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:33.360 time plays into the narrative of that story, although in 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:35.720 a much more kind of literary way and not a 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.920 scientific way. But at any rate, this is when we 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.960 had people really thinking about electricity and its effect on 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.160 the human body, and not just the human body as 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.480 it turns out. So you really to talk about the 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.240 history of the pacemaker, have to go all the way 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.840 back to the mid seventeen hundreds. That's when when people 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.760 started to experiment with what they called electro stimulation, using 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:01.960 electricity to stimulate muscle. Uh. And in fact, by this 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.640 time they were looking at cardiac electro stimulation, so again 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:08.480 using electricity to stimulate the heart. This was all in 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:12.200 animals at the time. Yeah, So they would find recently 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.040 dead animals, or they would make an animal recently dead, 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:19.920 and then they would use some form of electricity to 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:25.680 use an electricity source to stimulate the animal's heart. Electric sources. Yeah, 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:27.720 at the time, they had they had laden jars and 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:32.840 voltaic piles peels actually you should say voltaic peels. It's 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:38.160 it's actually named uh It's ok. Yeah, so peel is French, 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.240 but it's voltaic peels or piles if you prefer both 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.840 of which we were. I mean our batteries. They are 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:49.640 viable batteries, but very dangerous, yeah, and not particularly strong 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:53.880 unless you make huge stacks. Right. So these are predecessors 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.040 to what we consider the modern battery. But that was 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.440 when there was a lot of experimentation going on. So 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.400 they would use to stimulate the cardiac nerves and animals 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.920 in an attempt to resuscitate intact dead animals and thus, 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:12.040 as my notes say, infect the world with chipmunk zombies. Uh. So, 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:16.400 there was a fellow named Luigi Galvani who was credited 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:20.160 with proposing electricity as the mechanism that causes our muscles 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.520 to operate. Now here's the story. Uh, this is very 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:29.880 possibly apocryphal, but the the story the legend that Galvani 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:36.000 was working on on dissecting a little froggy and uh 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:40.440 ended up building up an electrostatic charge and picked up 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.159 a scalpel and touched the scalpel to the froggy and 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.080 it discharged the electro static charge, which created the spark 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:52.000 and made the froggy's leg twitch. Thus, Galvanni began to 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.919 think of electricity as being the means through which our 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.400 muscles operate. He called it animal electricity, as opposed to 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:03.240 what was being called heat electricity. So he's he thought 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.600 that animal electricity was some sort of electricity trickal type 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.000 of fluid that would make muscles move. Before then, it 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.600 was this idea of laden jars were still based on 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.640 the principle that electricity was a fluid. Isn't that correct? Yeah, yeah, 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:17.600 so we're you know, this is obviously this is the 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:22.800 early days of learning about electricity. So at any rate 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:27.280 that that research led other people to start to tinker around. 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.800 One of those was William Hawes h A W. E. S. 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.520 He established a society in London called the Humane Society. 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:37.440 But it's not the Humane Society the way we would 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:38.800 think of it in the United States. You hear the 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.360 Humane Society and you think that's an animal rescue. It's 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:45.680 not for adopting dogs and cats. Know, this was a 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:50.000 a a group that was dedicated to um well, salvaging 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.280 people who appeared to be dead. This was a big 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.760 concern at the time a lot of people. You know, 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.080 we didn't really have the more precise scientific definitions and 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.639 even today this debatable of of what is alive and 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:03.560 what is dead, and we you know, we didn't have 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.720 heart rate monitors. It was a morbid time, really it was. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:08.679 It was a lot harder to tell and so there 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.000 was a huge fear of getting buried alive. Yeah. So 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:18.800 there was also a similar society at the time in Paris. Paris, uh, 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:23.400 I assume Paris friends, not Paris, Texas. Eventually the organization 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.560 would become the Royal Humane Society of London, and very 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:30.800 early on during this society's days, scientists began to explore 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:33.800 electro stimulation as a way of resuscitating people who appear 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:36.720 to have died and maybe who are not actually dead 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:41.440 but could be revived. So se A guy named Charles 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.840 Kite writes uh paper titled an Essay upon the Recovery 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.320 of the Apparently Dead, which is already my favorite title 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:52.399 of a of a paper since uh since more wrote 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:57.280 Cramming more components on integrated circuits. Um, I love, I love, 0:19:57.440 --> 0:19:59.520 I love these titles. They're better. That's the best kind 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.240 of research. Drillly so. According to the essay, Kite used 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:06.119 electro stimulation to treat a three year old child. She 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:09.040 had fallen out of a window and appeared to be dead. 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.080 They had called in an apothecary, who was unable to 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:15.040 do anything. Kite said that it was twenty minutes before 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.200 he could arrive to provide some sort of electro stimulation 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:22.320 to the child's heart. He used his He used essentially 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:26.840 electrodes to to deliver a gentle electrical shock to various 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.680 parts of the child's body. Eventually settling on the thorax 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:33.760 or chest really to uh and found that he got 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.000 a pulse when he did that, and claimed that the 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:39.560 child woke up was very groggy and uh and and 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.440 confused about her surroundings, but that she eventually made a 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.359 full recovery. What that tells me is that this story 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:52.160 is probably either exaggerated or there are some big missing components, 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:54.960 because being dead for twenty minutes is being dead. It 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.480 is dead. You're not you're not bouncing back from that, really, 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.600 But any rate, it could be that that no one 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:05.119 at the house at the time could find a heartbeat, right, 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:06.960 could have been that she had a very weak pulse 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:10.960 interminute pulse. Even so, at any rate, that's the story 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.760 from and See. A couple of Danish scientists published a 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:18.280 paper that was titled life Saving Measures for drowning persons 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:20.439 and Information of the best means by which they can 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:23.439 be brought back to life, and that also included electric 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:25.879 stimulation of the heart as a means of saving people. 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:28.520 We're gonna jump ahead, so there a lot of people 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:32.560 researching this. In eighteen twenty, Dr de Sanctus in The 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:37.240 Medical Guide described the reanimation chair I didn't show you 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:41.480 a picture of this yet, have I learned an You're 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.240 gonna get a chance to see it. Link it on 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:48.200 social as well. The chair included bellows which were meant 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:51.160 to force air into the person's lungs, a metallic tube 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:56.040 inserted into the person's esophagus, and a voltaic peel or pile, 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.280 depending upon how you want to pronounce it, attached at 0:21:58.320 --> 0:21:59.960 one end of the metal tube and the other end 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.119 was to an electrode. The electrode was then touched to 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.120 quote regions of the heart, the diaphragm, and the stomach 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:09.280 end quote to cause muscles to contract. If you look 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:12.200 at this thing, or illustrations of this thing, I should 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:14.120 say I haven't seen a picture of what I don't 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.120 know if one was ever actually built, but the illustrations 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:19.199 of what it was supposed to look like look like 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:22.119 it came from Hostile or Saw or one of those movies. 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:26.480 Is absolutely terrified to behold. It makes a dentist chair 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:32.600 look absolutely comforting. By by comparison, it's Jonathan from Again. 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:35.680 We're going to take another quick break from this classic episode, 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:46.679 but we will return shortly. Experiments with electoral puncture. This 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:48.880 is where we're really getting into the fun stuff. So 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:53.719 that is that is combining electrical stimulation with acupuncture. So 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:57.159 you've got a needle that you insert into the body 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:00.240 of your your subject and then you shoot electricity through 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:05.360