Artificial Heart Recipient Making Progress in Second Month

"He's hardly ever in his room anymore, except at night when he is sleeping. He's up and on the go," said Dr. Robert Dowling, his surgeon. "He has exceeded our highest hopes."

While the severely weakened patient, a diabetic with a history of heart problems, was described by Dowling as "still very sick," the initial success of the AbioCor plastic-and-titanium pump about the size of a small grapefruit stands as a new milestone in the battle against heart disease.

More than 12 million Americans suffer from coronary heart disease, according to the American Heart Association, with heart failure each year claiming more than a quarter of a lives in the United States.

Since only some 2,200 human hearts become available each year for transplantation, human heart transplants are the solution for a comparatively small number of patients with coronary heart disease.

Doctors say that eventually, perhaps in less than five years, an artificial heart like the AbioCor might be used to help more than 100,000 patients annually live longer and enjoy life again.

For the moment, as doctors around the country plan additional tests of the AbioCor restricted to the sickest patients, they stress that the surgery is experimental and that early patients will die. But for the moment, doctors are euphoric over the functioning of this first self-contained artificial heart.

``We can have trouble with everything else, but we're not having troubles with this heart,'' said University of Louisville surgeon Laman Gray.