The American Heart Association reports the effects of cocaine can infiltrate the heart. The stimulant increases the heart’s demand for myocardial oxygen by raising heart rate and blood pressure. And in a video from MEDspiration, a non-profit organization specializing in the art of medicine and science, we get a rare look at what these demands do to the heart, physiologically, after sustaining more than 15 years of substance abuse.

You’ll see the heart in this video is considerably larger than usual, more than three times the size of a normal heart. The heart is still beating well after the 60 seconds it normally takes for the complete lack of oxygen, known as total ischemia, to set in and stop the heart beat. Nav Badesha, MEDspiration’s CEO and president, suggested the “heart’s inability to stop contracting may be due to the adaptation the heart cells underwent due to long-term cocaine abuse.”

At the same time cocaine is spiking a person’s heart rate, it’s decreasing the “coronary heart flow due to adrenergic vasoconstriction of the vessels.” This means the heart is receiving less blood flow and oxygen in spite of the increased “physical workload.” This workload is also partly why the heart is enlarged.

“It is possible that this heart had become SO adapted to myocardial ischemia over the past 15 years that it became resilient enough to beat without an oxygen supply for 25 minutes!” Badasha explained. “It is truly incredible how adaptive the human body is!”

See for yourself in the video below!