| News From Transplant Week of January 27, 2002 / Vol. 3 No. 4 |
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2 AbioCor Heart Patients Make Progress; 1 Leaves Hospital |
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Two of the first six AbioCor artificial heart patients -- all of whom were dying of heart failure and too sick to qualify for human heart transplants -- are reported making dramatic progress several months after receiving their implants. Tom Christerson, the second man to receive a self-contained artificial heart, is steadily improving and in a few weeks will set the new record as longest to survive with an AbioCor heart. Christerson, 70, who received the AbioCor heart at Jewish Hospital in Louisville on Sept. 13, is still breathing by way of a hole cut in his throat because saliva was seeping into his lungs when he swallowed. "He's really improved a lot in the couple weeks, he's really doing well," son Ken Christerson said. James Quinn, 51, the fifth AbioCor recipient, was released Jan. 14 from Hahnemann University Hospital, exactly 70 days after receiving his artificial heart. Quinn suffered a mild stroke on the morning of Dec. 31, and now uses a walker for balance and has slightly slurred speech, impaired vision and a weakened left side. However, he was strong enough to be discharged. "We are very happy for James. We hope he can begin to truly enjoy his family in a non-hospital setting," Dr. Louis Samuels, surgical director of the cardiac transplant team, said in a statement. Quinn is staying
in a
hotel about three blocks from the hospital, with caregivers in
an adjoining room. The first AbioCor recipient, Robert Tools, of Franklin, Ky., lived nearly five months with the plastic and titanium device in his chest before dying on Nov. 30. Two of the
other six patients have died, one like Tools of organ failure
and one of massive bleeding during surgery. Abiomed Inc.'s plastic-and-titanium device has an internal battery and controller that are implanted with the heart and an external battery that passes electricity through the skin. Unlike earlier artificial hearts, the AbioCor heart has no wires or tubes that stick out of the chest. Other sources: Abiomed, AP |
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