Dario, a young patient (only 46 years old) who was saved from acute heart failure thanks to the implantation of a Carmat total artificial heart, the only one authorised and marketed in the European Union, is about to be discharged and return home.
The operation was performed at the Heart Transplant Center of Monaldi (Azienda Ospedaliera dei Colli), at the UOSD of General Cardiac Surgery and Transplants led by Dr. Claudio Marra.
The decision to proceed with the implantation of the Carmat total artificial heart came when the conditions worsened; since there were no organs available, it was decided to proceed with the total artificial heart.
For his part, Dario never gave up and always had one goal: to return home, to his family and the entire neighborhood. Thanks to the life-saving surgery expertly performed at Monaldi, and to his great willpower, he is now ready to embrace his wife and two children again.
His is a history of illness of over 20 years (followed at Monaldi by the group of cardiologists who deal with heart failure). His reaction to the surgery was excellent and now he is in good clinical and hemodynamic conditions.
"The patients who can benefit from this extremely advanced machine are all patients who have advanced cardiac shock that is not responsive to other types of medical cardiology therapy. They are generally patients admitted to cardiac surgery intensive care, whose heart, despite being supported by infusion drugs and temporary assistance systems, is unable to provide sufficient cardiac output to other organs. In fact, they are patients in status one, which means imminent danger of death," explains the surgeon.
The Carmat total artificial heart is the evolution of previous biventricular assistance systems. Biotechnology has been searching for years for a mechanical heart that can “replace” a human heart
. «Carmat is the offspring of systems that were used in the past, but much more advanced, completely endothoracic and equipped with bioprostheses that direct the blood flow. In fact, Carmat is the most innovative and advanced biventricular assistance system in the world», continues Marra. Carmat's total artificial heart is covered by a membrane that senses endothoracic pressures and above all self-regulates blood flow based on the patient's activity exactly like a human heart.
«The most innovative research and technological applications allow us to give hope to patients who have no further therapeutic options and these innovations are welcome for public health that increasingly pushes the frontier of technology, always and only looking at the health of patients.
It is no coincidence that this intervention was performed at Monaldi, where professionalism, technology and organizational processes allow us to offer innovative treatments", explains lawyer Anna Iervolino, General Manager of the Azienda Ospedaliera dei Colli di Napoli.
The latest clinical experiences teach that this device can assist the patient for about 12 months while waiting for a donor heart. It must be considered as a bridge to transplantation, therefore, it can be implanted only in patients who are eligible, even if not immediately, for heart transplantation, which to date remains the best solution in terms of survival and quality of life.
Organ donation remains essential, it is an enormous act of altruism that allows the survival of many patients. Even the young Dario is waiting for a heart to take his life back into his own hands.
Article published on 31 January 2025 - 14:28
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