Father receives full artificial heart in UK first

Matthew Green was preparing to return home from hospital on Tuesday after receiving the UK’s first artificial heart.

The 40-year-old father had been critically ill, suffering from failure of both chambers of the heart.

But following ground-breaking surgery at Papworth Hospital near Cambridge, Mr Green has been given the all-clear to leave his ward.

Doctors at the hospital have previously implanted a total artificial heart, but this is the first time a patient has been well enough to leave hospital. The procedure allows crucial extra time to find a donor for a full transplant.

For patients with severe heart failure, transplantation is often the only hope of long-term survival, but donors are not always available.

During a six-hour operation, surgeons replaced Mr Green’s damaged heart with a SynCardia device (pictured) which will serve the role of ventricles and heart valves.

It provides a blood flow of up to 9.5 litres, eliminating the symptoms and effects of severe heart failure. The artificial heart is powered by a “freedom portable driver”, which is small enough to fit in a shoulder bag.

Mr Green suffered from arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathia, a heart muscle disease which results in arrhythmia, heart failure and sudden death. He said he was looking forward to leaving hospital and returning to his family.

“Two years ago I was cycling nine miles to work and nine miles back every day but by the time I was admitted to hospital I was struggling to walk even a few yards,” he said.

“I am really excited about going home and just being able to do the everyday things that I haven’t been able to do for such a long time such as playing in the garden with my son and cooking a meal for my family.

“I want to thank all the wonderful staff at Papworth Hospital who have been looking after me and who have made it possible for me to return home to my family.”

Ground-breaking technology

Papworth Hospital is the only centre in the UK currently allowed to implant this type of device.

In November 1986 a patient received a Jarvik-7 artificial heart and was supported for two days before undergoing a heart transplant.

The SynCardia is designed as a permanent replacement heart but is only approved as a “bridge” device until patients can receive a donor heart.

More than 900 SynCardia implants have been given to patients worldwide after all other treatments have failed.

A 10-year study of the device found 75 per cent of patients were out of bed within a week of receiving it. Two weeks after implant, 60 per cent of all patients were walking more than 100ft and liver function had returned to normal, with kidney function not far behind.

Papworth is the 66th hospital in the world and the first hospital in the UK to be allowed to use the SynCardia artificial heart.

The transplant team at Papworth, led by Steven Tsui, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and director of the transplant service, underwent training in Paris and was assisted by Latif Arusoglu, an expert total artificial heart surgeon from Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.

According to the British Heart Foundation, more than 750,000 people are living with heart failure in the UK.