Man with artificial heart survives over 100 days outside hospital

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Australian company BiVACOR has revealed a patient implanted with its artificial heart survived for 100 days – and is still with us after receiving a donated organ.

The un-named man had heart disease that meant he needed a replacement ticker.

BiVACOR makes just such a replacement that it calls the “Total Artificial Heart” (TAH) and which it describes as “an electro-mechanical rotary blood pump” that has just one moving part – a magnetically levitated rotor that simultaneously pumps blood to both the body and the lungs.”

Previous artificial heart designs several more moving parts that can wear out. Using magnetic levitation for the rotor – which is essentially a specialized impeller – means it doesn’t touch other components so won’t degrade.

An external controller and batteries provide power to the artificial hearts through a “percutaneous driveline” – a wire that passes through patient’s skin.

BiVACOR suggests the TAH as a stop-gap measure while patients wait for a donor heart to become available. The company last year announced that five patients had trialled the device in the USA, and all were discharged from hospital afterwards. One apparently spent 27 days with an artificial heart. Another was back on the table after eight days.

The anonymous Australian man spent six hours on the operating table while his TAH was implanted, and was later discharged and lived with the artificial heart for over 100 days before receiving a transplant.

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