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CNN Live At Daybreak

Artificial Heart Patient Greets the World

Aired August 22, 2001 - 07:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We now know that Robert Tools is the 59- year-old man, who made a medical first. On July 2, Robert Tools' failing heart was replaced by a full self-contained artificial heart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT TOOLS, ARTIFICIAL HEART PATIENT: I was dying. I was on my last few days of life when my cardiologist informed me about the trial here. So I asked for it, because I knew I had no more chances to survive.

The biggest thing is getting used to not having a heartbeat, except here I have a roaring sound, and that makes me realize that I'm alive.

QUESTION: You were staring death in the face. How does it feel to now have a second chance at life?

TOOLS: It feels great

(LAUGHTER).

TOOLS: It does. You don't realize how serious things are until you get to that point. Once you get to that point, you realize you don't want to leave here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: I bet someday he does want to leave.

The groundbreaking surgery was performed at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. And joining us from there is Dr. Rob Dowling, one of the surgeons who implanted the artificial heart.

Good morning, Dr. Dowling.

DR. ROBERT DOWLING, JEWISH HOSPITAL: Good morning.

LIN: I say that he wants to leave sometime as in leave the hospital. He did say yesterday that one of the first things that he wants to do is to go fishing again. So how soon do you think...

DOWLING: Yes.

LIN: ... that's going to happen for him?

DOWLING: It's had to predict. We have covered so much ground. He has made so much progress. But it's hard to know when he's going to have the strength to be able to get out of the hospital, and especially to go out and do fishing.

We certainly hope and that's our plan to get these people that have these devices back to a good quality of life. But I think we're looking at another couple of months before he is strong enough to really get out and be that active.

LIN: You know, he looks quite fragile. I know it has been at least seven weeks since his surgery. How is he doing?

DOWLING: Oh, he is doing great. He has exceeded our expectations. You have to remember how sick he was before we went to put him through this big surgery. He was a fellow over 6'2", who weighed well over 200 pounds. And when we did his surgery, he weighed less than 150 pounds. And he was going into kidney failure, liver failure. As we said, barely had the strength to lift his head, barely had the strength to talk.

So he has made tremendous strides. You know, you guys are seeing him for the first time, and he does look fail -- no question about it. He has made tremendous progress.

LIN: How many medications is he on right now?

DOWLING: He is not on a lot of medications. He had a little bit of bronchitis, so he has been on antibiotics, which our plan was to stop today. He is on some blood thinner medications, and you know, that's about it -- not a lot. Not nearly as many medications as he was before the surgery.

LIN: We love to talk about living. But inevitably all of us have to talk about death. When you take a look at this case -- and I know you're still in the groundbreaking stage. I read that you had only really hoped that a patient might live perhaps as long as a month. And already, Robert Tools has exceeded that.

But realistically, how long do you think this artificial heart is going to keep Robert Tools alive?

DOWLING: Well, it's hard to say. We don't know. It is ground breaking, and every day that we have, you know, is a blessing. But, you know, we can tell you that the devices similar to the one that -- identical to the one that he has in, that have been put on for durability testing have gone well over a year without any failures and without any problems with their functions.

So we're hoping if that device that he has can go well over a year -- maybe two, three, four, perhaps even five years.

LIN: You know, I am wondering as you look at history, you know, we all think of Barney Clark and the Jarvik 7 artificial heart. He lived... DOWLING: Right.

LIN: ... just under four months. And then William Schroeder, of course, groundbreaking there with a complete artificial heart. He lived, though, just under two years.

DOWLING: Right.

LIN: I know it's a different device that you are dealing with now and a different situation, a different patient. But by any standard, do you look at those cases, and are you able to predict in any way the future for Robert Tools?

DOWLING: Well, no, you know, those -- this technology that we have is so much more advanced. It is so different. We did learn a tremendous amount from that experience with the Jarvik artificial hearts and the LVADs that we have been putting in since then and even today. But it's still hard to predict.

This device is so much more sophisticated, so much more state-of- the-art. But it's hard to predict based on these -- even these other devices how long this device will last. So basically all we have to go on is the durability studies, which are very, very promising.

LIN: And while you're focusing on the device itself, I know a top priority of yours has been the quality of life...

DOWLING: Yes.

LIN: ... that you could offer Robert Tools. And without that, what is even the point of this experimentation? At what point -- you know, he has been in the hospital now seven weeks. At what point do you start saying, we can't let him go, this is not quality of life, this is not working?

DOWLING: Well, I mean, if he were here to answer that question, he would tell you that he feels better, that his days are good. From the fifth day after surgery, he said, this is the best I have been able to breathe in years, this is the strongest I have felt in years. You know, and his quality of life is improving day by day, week by week.

So from what we have seen, we are very excited that he is going to get back to a good quality of life -- that he is going to be able to get back out on his boat and just have a normal life, bass fishing, taking it easy, spending quality time with his family.

LIN: All right. A quick answer to this question: Do you have another patient in mind now that it's going so well?

DOWLING: Do we have another patient? We are evaluating patients. We don't have anyone in the final stages of evaluation at this point. We have to be very particular. We have to find the right patient -- someone as sick as Mr. Tools who we think we can get through the surgery.

LIN: Understood. Dr. Rob Dowling, thank you so much. It was a pleasure to finally meet Mr. Tools.

DOWLING: Thank you.

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