Remote patrol

"Nova" checks the pulse of artificial heart research in an absorbing program that airs at 8 tonight on Channel 19. Two competing teams of surgeons - one of them led by heart-transplant pioneer Michael DeBakey - are no longer trying to develop replacement hearts but instead are focusing on the left ventricle, the chamber that pumps blood through the body. The devices made by DeBakey and his rival, artificial heart creator Robert Jarvik, attach to the heart rather than replace it, and allow patients to resume normal activities after only a short hospital stay. Not only is this turning out to be the sounder medical option, but metaphysically it seems to sit better with everyone. "This mechanical device couldn't possibly be the seat of love and respect and honor," one physician says. "It's polyurethane." >>>