An Australian has become a medical miracle thanks to his groundbreaking artificial heart. The man's doctor reported this week that he was the first person in the world to be discharged from a hospital, and the implant has been developed to completely replace the function of the heart.
Last November, doctors at St. Vincent Hospital in Sydney conducted an experimental procedure to install the artificial heart of the double tiger into a man with severe heart failure. Although the man wasn't the first to receive the technology, he was the first to live with it, enough to be released from the hospital for 100 days. The implant acts as a bridge to a typical heart transplant, which the man obtained earlier this March.
Today, existing implants can perform some sick cardiac function for at least a period of time. However, the twin tiger heart was prevented by Australian Aboriginal and biomedical engineer Daniel Timms, aiming to completely take over many of the heart's key functions. It is suitable for people with end-stage heart failure and comes with an external rechargeable battery that is connected to the heart through wires. While developers hope future iteration rates can be upgraded to a more convenient wireless charger, the battery can only last four hours at a time.
The implant has reached early clinical trials, with the sixth and most important patient being a man in his 40s from New South Wales. The top five patients in the United States had only a short implant for a while before they had a heart transplant, which was enough to keep them from being discharged from the hospital. As a result, the man's discharge and his more than 100 days of his implant survival were both recorded. According to his doctor, he is now recovering from a heart transplant earlier this month.
“We have been working hard at this moment for years and we are very proud to be Australia’s first team to perform this program,” Paul Jansz, a heart and transplant surgeon for St. Vincent, told The Guardian.
Although Bivacor hearts are currently being tested to expand patients' survival until they get the donor's heart, TIMMS and his colleagues ultimately hope that the device can be a lasting alternative to the heart and a suitable replacement for heart transplants. This goal is not easy to achieve, given that patients live in the median 12 to 13 years after donating their hearts. But for now, early progress is certainly encouraging. This year, a program led by researchers at Monash University in Australia, is expected to acquire their own implants.
“In a brand new heart transplant competition in Australia and internationally, Bivacor's all-artificial artificial heart is attractive,” St Vincent's cardiologist Chris Hayward, who monitors the man's health, told The Guardian. “Over the next decade, we will see artificial hearts becoming an alternative to patients who can't wait for donor hearts or donor hearts that are not available at all.”
Artificial implants (such as double tiger hearts) are not the only emerging technologies that can support or replace limited donor organs in one day. Elsewhere, scientists are working to develop genetically modified pig organs that can be safely tolerated by the body.
