Patient No. 4 For Artificial Heart
The world's fourth recipient of a self-contained artificial heart was resting comfortably at UCLA Medical Center with the lightweight plastic and titanium device pumping inside his chest, the hospital said.
The patient, only described as a man in his 70s, underwent an 11-hour operation Wednesday to remove his heart and implant the AbioCor replacement.
"The operation went exceptionally well and the artificial heart is functioning beautifully," said Dr. Hillel Laks, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the UCLA School of Medicine, who performed the procedure with surgeon Daniel Marelli and cardiologist Jaime Morguchi.
The hospital's "quiet period" policy requires that no other information be immediately released.
The first two recipients of AbioCor artificial hearts continue to recover at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky., where the procedures were performed, Linda McGinity Jackson, the hospital's public relations director, said Thursday.
Robert Tools, 59, of Franklin, Ky., became the first recipient on July 2, and has made regular excursions from the hospital since his surgery. Tom Christerson, 70, of Central City, Ky., became the second on Sept. 13.
The third operation was Sept. 26 at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston. Spokeswoman Kathy Watson said no new information would be released on that patient, whose name has not been released, until the end of a 30-day quiet period.
The heart, made by Massachusetts-based Abiomed Inc., weighs less than two pounds. It is intended for patients with end-stage heart failure who have more than a 70 percent chance of dying within a month.
The study of the AbioCor heart, a completely internal pump powered through the skin by an external battery pack, is initially limited to five people nationwide. Only five hospitals in the country are approved for the procedure, including Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston.
By JOHN ANTCZAK
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