The Heart You Take with You

When most people hear “wearable technology,” they think of fitness trackers and enhanced glasses. The total artificial heart works on a higher level — allowing heart patients independence as they wait for a heart transplant. 

9:02 AM

Author | Michigan Medicine

 

24-year-old Stan Larkin, of Ypsilanti, Mich., was the first patient to leave a Michigan hospital without a human heart, thanks to a backpack-sized portable power drive that runs his total artificial heart. The artificial heart is used by patients at risk of dying from end-stage biventricular heart failure.  

"The device Stan has is the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart, a mechanical pump to bridge him to transplantation," says University of Michigan cardiac surgeon Jonathan Haft, M.D.  "He's still listed for a heart transplant and we hope to transplant him as soon as an organ is available. In the meantime he can be at home, he can be functional, and continue to rehabilitate himself so he's in the best possible shape when his opportunity comes." 

With the total artificial heart there are two tubes that exit the body, and those tubes have to be connected to a machine that can deliver compressed air into the ventricles to allow blood to be pumped through the body. Prior to the development of the Freedom portable driver, the only FDA-approved driver for the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart was the "Big Blue" hospital driver, which weighs 418 pounds and is the size of a washing machine. 

Due to a shortage of organs, total artificial heart patients supported by Big Blue were confined to the hospital for months, sometimes years, while waiting for a matching donor heart. The Freedom driver does the same thing as Big Blue — deliver the compressed air — except it is portable and weighs only 13 pounds. 

In the video above, Larkin and Haft talk about the advantages of this breakthrough. 


More Articles About: Health Tech Heart disease Heart Failure Cardiovascular: Diseases & Conditions
Health Lab word mark overlaying blue cells
Health Lab

Explore a variety of healthcare news & stories by visiting the Health Lab home page for more articles.

Media Contact Public Relations

Department of Communication at Michigan Medicine

[email protected]

734-764-2220

Stay Informed

Want top health & research news weekly? Sign up for Health Lab’s newsletters today!

Subscribe
Featured News & Stories Microscopic image of bone marrow with pink and white hues
Health Lab
Novel risk score for cardiovascular complications after bone marrow transplant
More bone marrow transplants, also known as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, are being offered to older patients, a population at greater risk of cardiovascular disease.
dna strand
Health Lab
Female genetic markers may have greater effect on hypertension, certain cardiovascular diseases
Female genetic markers may have greater effect on hypertension, certain cardiovascular diseases
Adult performs CPR on a young athlete, illustration with red and blue figures
Health Lab
Sudden cardiac arrest in young athletes: 5 things parents should know
Sudden cardiac arrest in young athletes: 5 things parents should know
Graphic showing pills, a heart and brain with data on aspirin use
Health Lab
Aspirin can prevent a second heart attack or stroke, but many don’t use it
Washington University School of Medicine and Michigan Medicine researchers found that fewer than half of people who have experienced a heart attack or stroke use aspirin to prevent a second one.
Ali Sheikh, D.O., celebrates with Sparrow’s highly skilled cardiovascular team after becoming the first health system in Michigan to implant the innovative Aurora EV-ICD device defibrillator.
Health Lab
Lifesaving option for heart patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest, abnormal heart rhythms
New, innovative and personalized life-saving care option of implantable defibrillator now available to heart patients in Michigan
Provider takes a pulse oximetry reading from a patient's finger
Health Lab
Inaccurate pulse oximeter readings could limit transplants, heart pumps for Black patients with heart failure
Racially biased readings of oxygen levels in the blood using pulse oximeters may further limit opportunities for Black patients with heart failure to receive potentially lifesaving treatments, such as heart pumps and transplants