Australian Man Survives 105 Days with 'Titanium Artificial Heart'

Received Titanium Heart Implant While Waiting for Donor
Artificial Heart Currently in Clinical Trials... Implanted in Five Patients

A man in his 40s with heart failure in Australia survived for 105 days after receiving a titanium artificial heart while waiting for a donor transplant, setting the longest record for the use of this technology.

On the 12th (local time), according to People magazine and CNN in the US, St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia, announced that the patient underwent artificial heart transplant surgery last November, was discharged in February, and successfully received a heart transplant from a donor earlier this month. The man endured 105 days waiting for a heart transplant with the artificial heart, marking the longest period among cases where this technology has been applied.

Titanium artificial heart by VIVACOR. VIVACOR website

St Vincent's Hospital, Monash University, and the US-Australia joint venture BiVACOR released a joint statement saying, "The patient suffering from severe heart failure is recovering smoothly after the transplant surgery." The surgery was conducted as part of Monash University's Artificial Heart Frontier Program, which invested 50 million Australian dollars (approximately 45.7 billion KRW) in developing heart failure treatment devices.

The titanium artificial heart is still in clinical trials and has not been commercialized. The BiVACOR artificial heart features a single moving part fixed by magnets, without wear-prone valves or bearings. This device uses a magnetically levitated rotor to replace the heart's ventricles and pump blood throughout the body. It is powered by a battery during the day and connected to an external portable controller at night for power supply.

The device has already been successfully implanted in five patients during the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) early feasibility study. The first human implantation took place on July 9 last year at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Texas, USA. The FDA has now approved expanding this clinical trial to 15 patients.

Daniel Timms, founder of BiVACOR who invented the device after losing his father to heart disease, said, "I am pleased to see decades of effort bear fruit." BiVACOR explained that their goal is to save more transplant candidates waiting for heart donors.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 18 million people die annually from cardiovascular diseases. According to US Department of Health statistics, approximately 3,500 people received heart transplants in the US last year, while the number of patients waiting for transplants was higher at 4,400.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.