Male patient writes medical history by surviving for 105 days with titanium heart

An Australian man in his 40s has become the first person in the world to be discharged from the hospital with a fully artificial heart. Suffering from severe heart failure, he lived with the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart, a titanium blood pump, for over 100 days before successfully receiving a donor heart this week.

In a groundbreaking six-hour surgery on November 22 at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, doctors implanted the artificial heart as a temporary solution while he awaited a transplant. His medical records have now been published to record his success, and according to an article by the Nature publication, his condition had stabilized enough for him to leave the hospital in February while still relying on the device.

He returned earlier this month for a heart transplant, completing 105 days with the BiVACOR artificial heart, which serves as a temporary solution for patients suffering from heart failure while they wait for a donor heart.

Previously, all recipients of this artificial heart remained under hospital care in the United States, making this case a breakthrough in real-world use. The patient lived with the device for over three months before successfully undergoing a heart transplant at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney this week.

BiVACOR is a total heart replacement system and represents a significant advancement in cardiac technology. The Australian patient is the sixth person globally to receive this artificial heart and the first to live with it for more than a month outside of a hospital setting.

Experts in the medical field, such as Julian Smith from Monash University’s Victorian Heart Institute and Sarah Aitken from the University of Sydney, regard the development as highly innovative. However, they caution that further research is needed to determine its long-term functionality and cost-effectiveness.

The device was created by biomedical engineer Daniel Timms, who founded BiVACOR, a company with offices in both California and Australia. Unlike traditional mechanical heart devices that assist only the left side of the heart and rely on multiple moving parts, the article highlights that BiVACOR is a fully artificial heart with a single moving component. It functions as a continuous pump, using a magnetically suspended rotor to circulate blood throughout the body in regular pulses. This design reduces mechanical wear and potential device failures, which are common in existing heart-support systems.

A key advantage of BiVACOR is its potential use beyond just a temporary bridge to transplantation. While it is currently only used to keep patients stable until a donor heart becomes available, some cardiologists believe it could eventually become a permanent alternative for those ineligible for transplants due to age or health conditions.

The article underscores that nearly 7 million adults suffer from heart failure in the United States alone yer only about 4,500 heart transplants were performed in 2023 due to a shortage of donor hearts. A reliable artificial heart could provide a lifesaving solution for many patients who would otherwise have limited options.

The success of this latest case provides crucial data on how patients can manage life with the device outside of a hospital environment. Unlike previous recipients, the Australian patient was not continuously monitored by medical teams, allowing researchers to better understand how the device performs in real-world conditions.

Joseph Rogers, a heart-failure specialist and president of the Texas Heart Institute, led the first US trials of BiVACOR and believes this case will contribute valuable insights into the future of artificial heart technology.

Despite its promise, the author's acknowledge that BiVACOR still faces challenges. The high cost of both the device and the surgical procedure remains a concern, and further clinical trials are needed to test its long-term viability as a permanent replacement for failing hearts. Nevertheless, the success of this Australian patient marks a significant milestone in the field of artificial heart technology, potentially paving the way for wider adoption and further innovations.

By Nazrin Sadigova