Baptist Health Implants State's First Total Artificial Heart

Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock on Wednesday announced that it implanted the state’s first Syncardia Total Artificial Heart in a 21-year-old Jonesboro man on April 18. Dr. John Ransom, surgical director of the Baptist Health Heart Transplant Institute, told Arkansas Business that there was no other option for recipient Chadarius Johnson and his recovery has been going well. He’d been waiting since January for a life-saving transplant. Both of his ventricles were removed and replaced with mechanical versions. The doctor also said this procedure is a “last option.” Patients who have the device have an 80 percent chance of living for one year whether the artificial heart remains implanted or they are able to get a transplant, but most will get the transplant, Ransom said.  The longest-living patient with the device implanted has been alive for five years, he added. Ransom also said this will be a rare procedure that may be performed by Baptist two to three times a year and about 1,700 have been implanted worldwide.   The Syncardia Total Artificial Heart is a battery-operated device that contains the same components as a real human heart and serves as a bridge to transplant. Ransom explained that, since 1999, the hospital has worked with left ventricular assist devices, which only support one side of the heart.   The latest type of LVAD is the HeartMate III that Baptist has been using on a trial basis since 2015. It has yet to r...
Source: Arkansas Business - Health Care - Category: American Health Source Type: news