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artificial_organs

Note

This page is intended to provide a foundation for artificial organ technology in Furscape. It is supplemental material, aimed at players wishing to create characters with cybernetic enhancements. - Hagalaz

Introduction

An artificial organ is a man-made device that is implanted or integrated into a human to replace a natural organ, for the purpose of restoring a specific function or a group of related functions so the patient may return to as normal a life as possible. The replaced function doesn't necessarily have to be related to life support, but often is.

Implied by this definition is the fact that the device must not be continuously tethered to a stationary power supply, or other stationary resources, such as filters or chemical processing units. Thus a dialysis machine, while a very successful and critically important life support device that completely replaces the duties of a kidney, is not an artificial organ.

Organ Replacements

Most organs present inside a recom's torso can be replaced with artificial organs. As a general rule, this is done as a temporary basis while the recipient is awaiting autologous cloned organ replacement. Rather than list which organs are available, the following is a list of organs that cannot be permanently replaced:

  • Sexual organs - Ovaries and testicles that produce functional gametes for reproductive purposes have not been successfully produced. While it is possible to create permanent artificial structures resembling external genitalia, they generally do not function in the same manner as either original organs or autologous cloned replacements (unless the required underlying organic structures, glands, etc… are still intact). The less-tactful will point out that artificial sex organs essentially fill the same niche as artificial breast implants.
  • Digestive tract - the stomach and small and large intestines have no permanent artificial substitutes. Generally a patient awaiting replacement for these tissues remains in intensive care in a hospital until autologous replacements can be grown. In the rare instance that a patient is given digestive tract implants, they must be monitored against failure, due to the chemical and mechanical processes involved in digestion.
artificial_organs.txt · Last modified: 2011/07/21 01:11 by hagalaz