Chinese surgeons successfully implant world's smallest artificial heart in 7-year-old patient

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) - Chinese surgeons successfully implanted the world’s smallest and lightest commercially available artificial heart into a 7-year-old patient, Xinhua News reported on Tuesday.

The 7-year-old boy, who was suffering from end-stage heart failure, has become the youngest person in the world to receive a magnetically levitated biventricular assist device, an artificial heart.

The surgery, performed earlier this month at Union Hospital, affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan in central China, represents a significant breakthrough that could revolutionize pediatric cardiac care worldwide, the news agency reported, citing doctors.

The patient was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy in May 2024 and later experienced severe cardiogenic shock. Due to challenges in locating a compatible donor heart with the boy's O blood type, doctors opted for an artificial heart as an alternative.

A team of doctors carried out the five-hour implantation procedure, and by the next day, the boy was breathing on his own. His heart function has been steadily improving since, according to the medical team.