Australian man becomes 1st to return home with artificial heart transplant

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - An Australian man who received an artificial heart transplant at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne has become the first person to be discharged from the hospital with the device.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the patient, who had been suffering from severe heart failure, underwent surgery and was released from the hospital with the artificial heart functioning inside his chest.

A man in his 40s from New South Wales underwent the six-hour surgery last November, during which doctors implanted the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart, a titanium mechanical blood pump, into his chest.

Cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon Paul Jansz, who led the procedure, described the device as "the Holy Grail," highlighting that it is designed in a way that "technically cannot fail or be rejected by the body."

Initially intended as a temporary solution until a donor heart became available, the artificial heart is expected to serve as a permanent option in the future.

The patient lived with the artificial heart for more than 100 days before a suitable human donor heart was found. In early March, he successfully underwent a second transplant to receive the donor heart.

Daniel Timms, the inventor of the BiVACOR device, expects artificial hearts to become more widely accessible within the next two to three years.

“We just need to produce more devices — that's the only limitation right now,” Timms said. “We are ramping up manufacturing so they are ready and waiting on the shelf.”

As part of the Monash University-led Artificial Heart Frontiers Program, four additional BiVACOR devices are scheduled for implantation this year.

The first BiVACOR artificial heart was implanted in a patient in Texas in July last year, but that individual was never discharged. Similarly, four patients in the US have since received the device, though none have been released from the hospital.

The implant operates using a motor with a unique mechanism that minimizes mechanical wear. Magnets suspend the motor's rotor, eliminating friction and reducing wear over time.