How long can a person live without a heart?

As a medical professional with expertise in cardiovascular health, I can provide some insight into the question of how long a person can live without a heart. Firstly, it's important to clarify that without a functioning heart, a person cannot survive for long. The heart is a vital organ responsible for pumping blood throughout the body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the tissues and removing carbon dioxide and other waste products. Without the heart's function, these essential processes cease, leading to the failure of other organs and ultimately death. However, medical advancements have made it possible for individuals to survive without their own biological heart for extended periods under certain conditions. This is typically achieved through the use of a mechanical circulatory support device, such as a ventricular assist device (VAD) or an artificial heart. A ventricular assist device (VAD) is a mechanical pump that helps the heart's ventricles pump blood. VADs are often used as a bridge to transplantation, meaning they are used to keep a person alive while they await a heart transplant. People with VADs have been known to live for several years while waiting for a transplant. An artificial heart is a more complex device that can replace the function of the heart entirely. The most well-known example is the total artificial heart, which replaces both ventricles and atria. While the use of an artificial heart is still quite rare, there have been cases where individuals have lived with an artificial heart for several years, particularly as a bridge to transplantation. In conclusion, while a person cannot live without a heart in the traditional sense, with the aid of modern medical technology, it is possible to survive without a biological heart for an extended period, particularly when using a VAD or an artificial heart as a bridge to transplantation.

The brain can survive for 4 minutes without oxygen, then brain cells start dying. So if there is no heartbeat, the heart is not contracting, the blood is not circulating through the body, and there is no oxygen supply. Other tissues and organs can live longer without oxygen.