An Australian medical team has successfully implanted a total artificial heart in a man suffering from severe heart failure, marking a significant milestone in cardiac treatment as the patient lived with the device for over 100 days before undergoing a donor heart transplant in March.
The BiVACOR total artificial heart, designed by Queensland-born Dr Daniel Timms, functions as a complete heart replacement and uses magnetic levitation technology to replicate the blood flow of a healthy heart, making it a potential alternative for patients with end-stage biventricular heart failure.
Although still in early clinical trials, the device aims to provide a bridge for patients awaiting heart transplants, with long-term ambitions of serving as a permanent replacement.
The procedure, conducted at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, involved a six-hour surgery in November, after which the patient, a man in his 40s from New South Wales, was discharged in February with the device before receiving a donor heart in early March.
This marked the first total artificial heart implant in Australia and the sixth globally, following five previous procedures in the United States, where all recipients eventually received donor hearts within a maximum of 27 days post-implant.
With heart failure affecting over 23 million people worldwide but only 6,000 receiving transplants annually, the Australian government has allocated $50 million towards the development and commercialisation of the BiVACOR device as part of the Artificial Heart Frontiers Program, which is also developing additional technologies to address various forms of heart failure.
Despite the success of the procedure, medical experts have noted that while the artificial heart has shown promise as a temporary solution, its current functioning period of just over 100 days remains significantly shorter than that of a donor heart, which can last over a decade.
However, advancements in cardiac treatment and the availability of effective medications have led to a decline in heart disease-related deaths, with mortality rates in Australia decreasing compared to figures from the late 1960s.