Artificial Heart Successfully Implanted in CHF patient

The world's first completely self-contained, fully implantable artificial heart has been implanted successfully in a patient in the United States for the first time since the completion of clinical trials and approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

After extensive training and education of the surgical team, which also included cardiac anesthesiologists, perfusionists, and cardiac nurses, the implantation procedure of the of the AbioCor Total Replacement Heart was performed at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (New Brunswick, NJ, USA). The patient elected for surgery was a 76-year-old male patient with congestive heart failure (CHF), who did not qualify for a heart transplant or other available therapies, and was determined to be in severe end-stage heart failure.


"We are honored to be among the few distinguished institutions in the nation to offer this innovative technology to patients who have no other treatment alternatives available to them,” said cardiac surgeon Mark Anderson, MD. "The implantation marks the culmination of nearly three decades of research and development and the technology has finally reached the point where an artificial heart has become a real option for end-stage heart failure patients. We believe this procedure is a significant step toward offering new hope and a future to patients who may still have more quality time with their family and loved ones.”

The components of the system include a thoracic unit that contains blood pumping chambers, which takes over the pumping action of the excised diseased heart; a transcutaneous energy transfer (TET) unit that powers the system, recharging the internal battery from the outside; a system controller implanted in the abdomen that monitors and controls system operations, including the pumping rate of the replacement heart; an implanted battery that provides short-term power, allowing the patient to be free from all external connections for a short period of time (up to approximately 45 minutes), and an implanted cable that connects all of the components of the system. In addition to the implanted components, the AbioCor system has additional external components that provide power (the external TET) and monitor and adjust the replacement heart (the control console). The AbioCor Total Replacement Heart is a product of Abiomed (Danvers, MA, USA).

Candidates for the AbioCor replacement heart suffer from severe biventricular end-stage heart disease, but typically have other vital organs that continue to function well. Generally, they must be younger than 75 years old, require multiple drugs to increase the strength of contractions of their heart muscle to support life, are not treatable by a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to sustain life for long term therapy, or are not weanable from biventricular support, if on such support.

Related Links:
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Abiomed