| News From Transplant Week of December 16, 2001 / Vol. 2 No. 50 |
|
UCLA AbioCor Artificial Heart Recipient Dies After 56 Days |
|
A 74-year-old man who became the world's fourth person to receive a fully self-contained artificial heart died 56 days after the implant at UCLA Medical Center. The man, who remains unidentified, was the third of the six people to have received the heart to die. At UCLA, doctors said the device had continued to perform well, but the patient's organs persistently failed. Robert Tools, the first person to receive the implant, died from uncontrolled bleeding in his stomach. An unidentified Houston man, the most recent to receivean AbioCor heart, died from bleeding during the operation to implant it. During the clinical trial phase currently under way, the only patients who qualify are those with end-stage heart failure, who are too ill to qualify for a cadaver heart transplant and who have a less than 30 percent chance of surviving longer than a month without the mechanical heart. The three deaths in the program so far are not a surprise. Many experts believe results will be better when surgeons are allowed to implant the device into healthier patients, such as those eligible for a heart transplant. Other sources: AP |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
