Man Lives For 100 Days After Getting Am Artificial Titanium Heart Implanted

A breakthrough indeed in the medical achievement that happened in Australia, where a man in his 40s became the longest living patient to survive on an artificial titanium heart. For 100 days, this device kept him alive as he waited for a donor transplant. It may be a great future of heart failure treatment.

The patient who has chosen to remain anonymous received the implant at St Vincent's Hospital Sydney in November last year. By February he had already become the first person in the world to leave a hospital while fully dependent on the device. Earlier this month, he received a donor finally and is now recovering well.

While artificial hearts have been used before, this case stands out because of the device’s ability to sustain the patient for such a long duration. Medical experts see it as a promising step toward a long-term solution for people with severe heart failure who may otherwise struggle to find a suitable donor.

The Vision Behind It

Australian bioengineer Dr Daniel Timms is the mind behind the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart (TAH). Inspired by the loss of his father to heart disease, Timms then spent decades developing the device, aiming to create a more durable and efficient alternative to the current artificial hearts.

He also credited his success to the team of medical professionals who worked to bring the technology to clinical trials. Professor Chris Hayward of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and Dr Paul Jansz played a key role in preparing the human trials and overseeing the patient's recovery.

Unlike prior artificial hearts, which have multiple moving elements, the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart just has one magnetically levitated rotor. This rotor pumps blood to the lungs and the rest of the body, assuming the roles of both ventricles in a failing heart.

Made of titanium, the device eliminates the need for valves and mechanical bearings, both of which deteriorate over time. This makes it a more durable and potentially long-term alternative to donor transplants. The design also allows doctors to adjust blood flow based on the patient's activity level, mimicking the elasticity of the human heart.

A Game Changer

Heart disease remain the leading cause of death worldwide. As per the World Health Organization, there are a total of 18 million deaths annually. The demand for heart transplants continues to outweigh the availability of donor organs. In the US alone, 3,500 heart transplants were performed in 2024. However, 4,400 new patients joined the waiting list the same year.

In the words of Professor Chris Hayward, this technology marks "a whole new ball game of heart transplants". He also predicts that within the next decade, artificial hearts could become a standard alternative for patients who cannot wait for a donor heart or for whom donors are unavailable.

The artificial heart by BiVACOR had been tested in the US, under FDA's Early Feasibility Study. Five patients have been implanted successfully as of now. The first recipient was a 58-year-old man with end-stage heart failure who lived for eight days on the device before receiving a donor heart. Four other patients have since participated in the study, which aims to assess the device’s safety and performance.