How an artificial heart could soon be saving lives

An Australian man with heart failure has made history by becoming the first person in the world to walk out of the hospital with a total artificial heart implant.

The breakthrough was announced on Wednesday by the Australian researchers and doctors behind the operation, who called it an “unmitigated clinical success.” The man, who is in his 40s, lived with the titanium-made artificial heart for more than 100 days before finally receiving a donor heart transplant in early March.

This marks the longest time any artificial heart patient has gone between implantation and receiving a human donor heart—a milestone that could reshape the future of heart transplants.

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Professor Chris Hayward, the heart failure and transplant cardiologist who led the operation at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital told News.com.au, “This will usher in a whole new ball game for heart transplants, both in Australia and internationally.”

So, how does this titanium heart work? And why is it such a big deal? Here’s a closer look.

How the artificial heart works

The total artificial heart (TAH), invented by Queensland-born Dr Daniel Timms, is the world’s first implantable rotary blood pump that can act as a complete replacement for a human heart.  

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Developed by the US-Australian company, BiVACOR, the artificial heart has a single moving part, a levitated rotor that’s held in place by magnets which ensures a smooth and continuous blood flow, CNN reported.

Made from titanium, the artificial heart is constructed without any valves or mechanical bearings that help it to last longer and withstand more wear and tear than previous devices. It works by replacing both the left and right ventricles, the two chambers of the heart responsible for pumping blood throughout the body.

According to Timms, the patient who received the device spent over 100 days with it in place. He couldn’t feel it inside his chest and was able to go about his daily life—walking down the street and even shopping—before receiving a donor heart. Now, is recovering well in the Sydney’s St Vincent hospital.

“He was asking, you know, maybe we can go for a pint sometime … he was just in great spirits,” Timms said at a media conference on Wednesday. “If this works well, then this is going to continue to be implanted in more patients. And that was part of his reasoning to say yes to this kind of technology.”

According to Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News, the device is small enough to fit inside a 12-year-old and weighs about 650 grams. It is powered by an external rechargeable battery that connects to the heart via a wire in the patient’s chest. It lasts for about four hours and then alerts the patient that a new battery is required.

The device has already been tested as part of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Early Feasibility Study, and is showing promising results.

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Why is this a ‘complete game changer’

Heart disease remains the world’s biggest killer, taking nearly 18 million lives each year, according to the World Health Organization.

While heart transplants can save lives, there’s a major hurdle—not everyone who needs a new heart gets one. The demand far exceeds the supply of suitable donor hearts, leaving thousands of patients with little hope.

The numbers are staggering. According to the Australian government, more than 23 million people worldwide suffer from heart failure every year, yet only 6,000 will receive a donor heart.

But the success of the BiVACOR artificial heart offers a glimpse into a future where patients may not have to rely on a human donor at all.

“This is a complete game changer,” said Dr Paul Jansz, the cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon who led the six-hour operation in Australia. “It’s a device that solves a lot of the problems that we have with mechanical circulatory support.”

Professor Chris Hayward believes this innovation is set to reshape heart transplantation as we know it.

“Within the next decade, we will see the artificial heart becoming the alternative for patients who are unable to wait for a donor heart or when a donor heart is simply not available,” he said.

So far, six successful total artificial heart transplants have been performed globally. The first five took place in the US last year, with all patients receiving donor hearts before leaving the hospital. Until now, the longest a patient had lived with the device before transplantation was 27 days—making the Australian case a groundbreaking milestone.

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What’s next?

This groundbreaking implant is just the beginning. It marks the first of several procedures planned under the Artificial Heart Frontiers Program, a research initiative led by Melbourne’s Monash University.

Backed by a $50 million grant from the federal government’s Medical Research Future Fund, the program has allocated $17.5 million specifically for the BiVACOR trial. In addition to the total artificial heart, researchers are also working on two other life-saving devices—a miniature heart pump and a left ventricular assist device, reported The Sydney Herald.

When announcing the funding last February, Health Minister Mark Butler highlighted the potential impact of these innovations. He stated that this technology could halve deaths from heart failure while also positioning Australia as a global leader in medical device manufacturing.

Prof David Colquhoun from the University of Queensland, who serves on the board of the Heart Foundation but was not involved in the trial, called the achievement a “great technological step forward” for artificial hearts. However, he cautioned that there is “still a long way to go” before this technology becomes widely available.

With input from agencies