In Australia, a patient with heart failure has become the first person in the world with a temporary artificial heart who has managed to be discharged from the hospital.
The device worked in its body for 100 days, setting a record, before being replaced with a donated organ.
According to Oxu.AZ, the information was reported by The Guardian.
The man, 40 years old, originally from the state of New South Wales, whose name was not revealed, became the first patient in Australia who received an artificial and sixth heart in the world. The artificial body was implanted in November, in February was discharged, and at the beginning of March received a donated heart transplant.
The first five artificial heart transplants were performed last year in the US, but those patients did not leave the hospital until the device with a donated organ. The previous record for the period of use of an artificial heart until the transplant was 27 days.
“The complete artificial heart Bivacor opens new perspectives for heart transplants both in Australia and globally. In the next decade, we will see how the artificial heart becomes an alternative to patients who cannot wait for a donated organ or situations in which such an organ is not available, ”said cardiac surgeon Paul Jans, who drove the operation of six hours.
The artificial heart Bivacor was invented by Australian Daniel Timms, with the support of the Australian government, who invested $ 50 million in this project. According to officials, out of the 23 million people suffering from worldwide heart failure, only 6,000 can benefit from a donated heart transplant annually.
Professor David Colquhoun, a member of the Board of Directors of the Charitable Heart Foundation organization, which has not been involved in research, noted that, for now, the artificial heart can work only about 100 days, while a donated heart can last over 10 years.
