Australian Man Becomes First to Leave Hospital with Titanium Artificial Heart
In a groundbreaking medical achievement, an Australian man in his forties has become the first person in the world to leave the hospital with a titanium artificial heart, a device that is used as a temporary solution for patients with heart failure awaiting a donor heart. This marks a major milestone in medical technology, as previous recipients of the BiVACOR device had remained in U.S. hospitals while it was in place.
A Life-Changing Development in Heart Failure Treatment
The Australian patient lived with the BiVACOR device for over three months before undergoing a successful heart transplant. St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, where the operations were conducted, reported that the man is now recovering well. He is the sixth person globally to receive the BiVACOR, but the first to live with it for over a month.
“This is certainly an important development in the field,” said Julian Smith, a cardiac surgeon at the Victorian Heart Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Vascular surgeon Sarah Aitken from the University of Sydney also praised the device as “incredibly innovative,” though she cautioned that many questions remain regarding its long-term functionality and its potential costs. "This kind of research is really challenging to do because it is very expensive,” Aitken explained, noting that the surgery involved is high-risk.
Potential for Widespread Use
This success is an important step forward in understanding how people live with the BiVACOR in real-world conditions. Joseph Rogers, a heart-failure cardiologist and president of the Texas Heart Institute, emphasized that, unlike previous trials where patients were constantly monitored in hospital, this patient managed the device outside of a clinical setting, providing valuable data on its practical use.
The BiVACOR device has primarily been used as a temporary solution until a donor heart becomes available, but some cardiologists suggest it could eventually become a permanent option for people who are not candidates for a transplant due to age or other health conditions. With nearly 7 million adults living with heart failure in the United States and only about 4,500 heart transplants performed in 2023, the shortage of donor hearts highlights the need for alternative solutions like BiVACOR.
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