Man Goes Home With "Total Artificial Heart"

(CBS)  For nearly two years, 43-year-old Charles Okeke has tried to live a normal life in the hospital tethered to a 400-lb. machine.

"It sort of overwhelms you to think, 'I'm stuck to a machine,'" he says.

Okeke was barely 30 when a blood clot destroyed his heart, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. He had a transplant and for 10 years life was good for this computer consultant and father of three.

But in 2008 his body rejected that heart and at that time another transplant was out of the question.

Okeke now has what is called a "total artificial heart." Both ventricles were removed along with four valves. Connector tubes were sewn in. It pumps blood just like a human heart.

"There is an artificial heart inside of me that the tubes connect to from this exit site right here," he says while pointing to the tubes.

"Here is an artificial heart inside of me," says Okeke. "The tubes connect from this exit site[.]"

When asked about the moment he realized he had a total artificial heart, Okeke says, "For the longest time I could not physically put my hand to my chest because it felt so weird."

But Okeke's life is about to be transformed. The FDA has just approved this backpack-sized device that runs on batteries and weighs just 13 lbs. It's the first portable technology to support the entire artificial heart.

"Sensors that used to be the size of a can of soup are now about the size of a quarter," says Syncardia's Steven Langford. "That leap has enabled us to downsize the entire console."

Okeke is the first heart patient in the country to test the "freedom driver."

There are worries. Will this device supply enough power to the heart so the liver and kidneys also function? Will Okeke trust his heart to this machine?

"How comfortable he feels with the device, that's going to be as important as all the other organs working," says the Mayo Clinic's cardiothoracic surgery chair Dr. Francisco Arabia.

After a few more weeks readjusting the "freedom driver," Okeke experiences freedom for the first time in years, leaving the hospital with a hero's goodbye as hundreds of people wished him well.

At home, Okeke hugged his kids. "I am about as happy of a person as you can have right now," says Okeke. "To be able to sleep in my own bed after two years on a hospital bed, you can't imagine."

The Okekes know they're not home free. Charles will have to work hard to maintain his health as he awaits a new heart, but if the right match is not found, doctors say he could live indefinitely on this device.

The Syncardia total artificial heart costs about $125,000 and about $18,000 a year to maintain.

[FauxNews]

This is fantastic news with great historical significance; however, I think it is being over shadowed by other trivial news events.

[rwsmith29456]

This article stated something I just looked up and read that seems very strange. People have been developing artificial hearts for many years but none of them have ever been considered a total heart replacement. I'm not too stupid but I thought that since about 1969 they've been working on a total replacement heart, even if it was powered from outside. I assumed they were to take out the old heart and reconnect a new heart to the aorta and pulmonary veins. Nobody ever bothered to clarify it and I didn't know enough to ask.

[rf35]

The technology for an artificial "replacement" heart is still not quite there. Once a device such as this can be miniaturized to fit entirely inside the chest (perhaps minus the power supply) then we will just about be there. One show-stopper right now is the sensors mentioned above. While now much smaller, they are still contained outside the body in the backpack device. At the rate things are progressing, I think we might see a different medical technology that would eliminate the need for artificial organs. Regenerative medicine, organ cloning, or growing replacements from stem cells might be ready before the full replacement artificial heart.

[jhing58]

Charles thank God for everything that He has given you.
God Bless You !!!

Technology has improved so much. Thank God for it.

[OREO53]

Way to go Charles you rock. I am so happy for you and your family.
Maybe we can hook up and play some golf?
God bless you my brother. BTW do you still want that 42" color T.V.? hahahaha
OREO

[Parallax_Prime]

$18000/year is not very expensive given the experimental nature and relative expense of medical care in the US. I'm actually quite shocked its so cheap, its remarkable. To put this in perspective, it costs ~25k-32k/year for multiple sclerosis medication, and this is just 0.365 liters of liquid every year. This is just one of many expensive conditions. To maintain an artificial heart for only 18k a year is remarkable.

[rrenston]

Thousands of people, young and old, die of congestive heart failure, worldwide, every year. The causes of CHF are numerous, and include lack of blood flow to the heart muscle (heart attack), viral damage, congenital malformations and autoimmune diseases. The Syncardia totally implantable artificial heart (TAH) is implanted when the heart muscle is so severely damaged that medications and other mechanical devices are no longer of benefit, and the patient is on the verge of death. The Syncardia TAH is the only FDA approved device in the US, and in Europe, and is intended as a ?life bridge? until a human heart can be transplanted and the TAH removed. Because human hearts for transplantation exist in extremely short supply, patients are able to survive for months and years with the TAH in place whereas they might otherwise die waiting for a human heart to become available. Medicare and other medical insurance payers ALREADY have approved payments for the TAH and subsequent transplantation of a human heart when it becomes available. The fantastic news in this story is that a lightweight, portable air pump (the driver), which runs the TAH, now permits patients to leave the hospital and live nearly normal, active lives at home, rather than being tethered to the old, 300 pound driver in the hospital. This cost-effective breakthrough will save hospitals, Medicare and other insurance payers tremendous amounts of money since they will no longer bear the expense of maintaining patients in hospital for months and even years. Beyond this benefit, however, is the added value of a tremendously increased quality of life and the provision of hope to these extremely ill individuals.

[rwsmith29456]

I was in my late 40's when I spent several days in the hospital being diagnosed with everything from Fibrosis to pneumonia. They finally found out my heart was about twice as big as it was supposed to be. I was told I almost died. I don't know why but I've read about it and for some reason it is tricky to diagnose.

[sharoncalla]

Regardless, who pays for this man's care, it's the right thing to do.
He clearly needed the artificial heart. It's not like you wake up and say gee, I think I will go buy one. I wish him well, 18,000.00 a year sure is "high", but clearly he needs the batteries, or stimulators, and he should have it. I wish him the very best, and a long life. Another thought to ponder, it could be you tomorrow.

[DawnBroderick40]

An excellent comment. $18K is far less than I would have guessed for the maintenance of this device and this man's life is more than worth it. It could be you, your loved one. Everyday people should have the ability to fight for their lives and insurance should help pay for it. I'm so glad this man has this device to give him some hope.

[porcine_aviator]

This is a fantastic triumph for mankind. It starts with a single patient, and in just a matter of a couple of years, this will be available for many who are awaiting transplant.

Yes, it's expensive, yes it's not foolproof, but it's infinitely better than the alternative.

Best of luck Mr. Okeke. I hope you can get back to a productive, happy life with your family and that we read about your successes again in the coming years.

[bankersvox]

This is a wonderful story. He is obviously a brave man who has suffered and is a hero. So are the Nurses and Doctors, as I am sure this was not an easy road for 2 years. He looks remarkably fit, just the same.


As we all wonder, who is paying for this, the answer is obvious, the SYSTEM as it is WORKS. So why are we hell bent to destroy it with gov't regulations ?


No other country in the world could do this.
?
Do you think the UK buerocrats would have this approved. ?


Are we really want to be SOCIALISTS ?

[voxpopulus]

Sure. Do you really think YOUR health insurance will pay for you to receive this?

Want to buy some beachfront real estate in New Orleans?

[fobean]

The "system" pays for this man's treatment? What "system"? We don't have a "system" that pays for people's healthcare. We have a system to deliver it--but we don't have one to pay for it.

This young man looks otherwise extremely healthy. It is very likely that he was identified by the healthcare "system" that does research as a very likely candidate for this experimental procedure. Most likely, the company that wants to market this gadget (the previous gadget may have been paid for by other means--but it is just as likely that it was paid while they were developing this portable one) is paying for his care.

Thousands of other people are dying because there is no way to pay for their care--one guy gets a sweet deal because he is extremely healthy otherwise and will make the gadgets look good--and the "system" works?

And then you ask if the UK bureaucrats would pay for his care. Well, dear, they're paying for Stephen Hawking, as well as a lot of other people, so yes--I imagine that they would pay for his care as long as it was going to provide him with more than a few days or weeks of life.

My feeling about this is that we do one of two things--either stop being "socialists" and forcing "grandma" to live a few days or weeks longer (probably in pain) at the cost of millions of dollars rather than pay the doctors to sit down and find out what she really wants and then abide by it, or we try to see to it that everyone has basic healthcare and that perfectly beautiful little children do not die because they cannot get their infected teeth treated.

The problem with the US is that we have champagne health care, though most of us have a beer budget. And, the doctors and Republicans scare the older Americans who are actually already on a socialized medical system into thinking that if even beer budget care is given to the rest of us, that they won't get anything.

Sorry--I am tired of providing a champagne healthcare system to the elderly and to upper-middle and upper-class Americans who have fulltime jobs which recruit them by offering affordable care, while that same care is subsidized by jacked-up costs for the rest of us making it impossible for us to get the insurance company to actually pay for the procedures it says it will, making us cough up $$$$ out of our own pockets for procedures we thought would be covered.

It isn't the illegal immigrants doing this to us--that is a red herring. It is the elderly Americans who provide a solid voting bloc to the Republicans as well as the upper income people who do the same.

I am tired of paying for you to have champagne health care while the rest of us pay $$$ to greedy insurers. Either get rid of Medicare and subsidized insurance for well-to-do people (especially those working for the government), or make it affordable for everyone by cutting down the $$$ that the greedy insurers get. I don't really care which.

[dbtmellis]

This is the problem with this health-care law. It does NOT decrease the costs, it just shifts who will be the ones paying for it. So, in the end, you really wont be paying "less" for your health-care, most will end up paying the same. Even if the democrats insist that there are no tax increases, the money has to come from somewhere! What will be cut first? The Military? We need a strong Defensive military, let the world deal with its own problems. Let anyone attack our soil again, and i can promise you they will regret it. So in other words, the money that is going to come from this needs to come from cutting waste and fraud. Doing that is the only way to cut spending without raising taxes or drastically cutting back in services.