Artificial Heart could Provide a Temporary Fix until Transplant

For many organ recipients, they may be waiting their entire lives before they receive a new organ that's needed for them to live. Yet to reduce the risk of death for heart patients in particular, scientists are working on the development of artificial hearts. In the largest single-center study ever conducted on patients with implanted heart devices, researchers discovered that these devices can greatly improve the chances of survival for a patients in need of a heart transplant.

For the study, 22 heart patients had a device implanted at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in 2012 and 2013. They primarily focused on the endpoints of death as well as stroke incidence at 60 days. So far, five of the patients had died, four had successfully received a heart transplant and the other 13 are still waiting for one. Yet out of the patients still waiting, eight of them were allowed to return home and wait. A total of three suffered from a stroke while none of those with the artificial hearts developed infections.

"We were pleased to see how well many of these patients did," said lead investigator, Swaminatha Gurudevan, M.D., cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, via a press release. "Given how sick these patients were, we expected to see higher mortality rates."

Background information from the study notes that all patients received end-stage cardiomyopathy that occurs as the heart muscle becomes too think or rigid. Many of those who died were very sick before their artificial heart transplant procedure occurred.

In fact, the patients were separated into three levels of sickness, showing that six out of 10 who survived with the artificial heart at 60 days. Of those, one had a successful heart transplant while the other five were still waiting for the transplant to occur. The middle level showed that eight out of nine had made it through to 60 days, with two receiving heart transplants while the other six waited. The last group consisted of three patients with one of them recovering from a heart transplant.  

"Before, patients had to stay in the hospital while they waited for a new heart," Gurudevan added, via the release. "With the artificial heart, some can wait at home and continue to conduct many of their regular activities."

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More information regarding the findings can be seen via the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.