Just as the Palladium-powered arc reactor kept Marvel superhero Iron Man alive, a 58-year-old man in the United States was kept alive by a Titanium heart.
In a groundbreaking medical achievement, the American became the first person in the world to receive a revolutionary artificial heart.
The device, developed by medical technology company BiVACOR, is a titanium blood-pumper designed to fully replace the function of a failing human heart. The BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart (TAH) represents a significant departure from traditional artificial heart designs.
Unlike its predecessors, the TAH doesn’t mimic the beating of a natural heart. Instead, it utilises a single, magnetically levitating rotor to pump blood to both the lungs and the rest of the body. This innovative design eliminates the need for flexible chambers or pumping diaphragms, resulting in a more durable and compact device.
The implantation took place at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center at the Texas Heart Institute, marking the culmination of a decade-long development process.
The patient, who was suffering from end-stage heart failure, received the device without complications and it functioned effectively for eight days until a donor heart became available.
Daniel Timms, the founder of BiVACOR, expressed pride in this milestone, stating, “I’m incredibly proud to witness the successful first-in-human implant of our TAH.
This achievement would not have been possible without the courage of our first patient and their family, the dedication of our team, and our expert collaborators at The Texas Heart Institute.”
The BiVACOR TAH offers several advantages over existing artificial hearts. Its compact size, roughly that of a fist, makes it suitable for a wider range of patients, including most men and women. The device’s durability is enhanced by its corrosion-resistant titanium construction and the absence of mechanical wear due to the magnetically levitated rotor.
This breakthrough comes at a crucial time, as the demand for heart transplants far exceeds the available donor organs. With less than 6,000 heart transplants performed worldwide annually, artificial hearts play a vital role in extending and improving the quality of life for patients awaiting transplants.
The FDA has approved BiVACOR to implant its TAH in up to five patients with end-stage heart failure in 2024.
Given the success of this first implantation, additional procedures are expected in the near future, potentially paving the way for a new era in the treatment of severe heart failure.
Source Agencies
