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American Morning

First Self-Contained Artificial Heart Implanted

Aired July 03, 2001 - 11:13   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To medical news now and a landmark operation that may provide new hope for patients with failing hearts: The first self-contained total mechanical heart is beating inside of a patient's chest this morning.

And our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with details.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is very exciting, Daryn. This is the first time a totally self-contained heart has been placed in the body. Certainly, the patient is doing pretty well, resting comfortably, we hear, at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. We've come a long way since 1969 when the first implanted heart was placed. That patient lived for five days.

Here's how this one works. This is actually a two chamber system. There are two ventricles within the heart, one pumping oxygen -- blood to the lungs the be oxygenated, the other pumping blood to the rest of the body, which is freshly oxygenated. There's an internal battery generator and two external battery units that essentially leave aside any wires or any wires going across the skin which may cut down on infection. So those are some of the bigger advances with respect to this artificial heart.

KAGAN: We don't know a lot about the patient who received this heart. We do know the reports are that the person was very near death and clearly needed a heart transplant. Why is this better than a heart transplant?

GUPTA: Right, and the patient was expected to live for only 30 more days. And that is, in fact, one of the indications for this particular heart implant. These are better than heart transplants probably for a lot of different reasons. One is that they're available. We don't know how well they work yet, but they are available. They're also less costly probably over the long term and they also cut on the need for immunosuppression. So there are some advantages. But it's important to point out that we still don't know any long term results yet. This is the first patient and it was just yesterday that this was placed.

KAGAN: So we're not even sure how long this heart will hold out hope or if this person has just been given a bridge to wait until a human heart would be available? GUPTA: That's right, and that's an important point because if the patient were expected to live for a month, if the patient lives for two months, in some ways that could be considered a success. Whether that's a success for the population at large, that's something that remains to be see.

KAGAN: We'll have to see how it works and what kind of side effects it brings. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

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