40-year-old UK man receives Total Artificial Heart implant
A 40-year-old man has become the first person in the UK to receive a Total Artificial Heart implant and be discharged from hospital.
Matthew Green had been critically ill suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure, but a six-hour operation, carried out by surgeons at Papworth Hospital on 9 June, replaced his damaged heart with a Total Artificial Heart developed by Tucson, Arizona-based SynCardia Systems.
The SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart is a device used as a bridge to transplant for patients dying from end-stage biventricular heart failure, where both sides of the heart are failing.
Similar to a heart transplant, this device replaces failing ventricles and native heart valves, providing blood flow of up to 9.5 litres per minute throughout the body, which eliminates the symptoms and effects of severe heart failure.
According to SynCardia Systems, this high volume of blood flow also helps vital organs to recover faster, helping make patients better transplant candidates.
The transplant team at Papworth Hospital, led by Mr Steven Tsui, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and director of the transplant service, underwent training in Paris and the team was assisted by Dr Latif Arusoglu from Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.
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