From Deseret News archives:
Intermountain Healthcare revives artificial heart program
The artificial heart itself has changed little since Intermountain doctors implanted one in Idaho resident Al Marsden in 1995. What has changed is the support device that drives the heart.
Marsden, Utah's second-ever total artificial heart patient following Barney Clark, spent five months in LDS Hospital with his artificial heart, tethered to a 400-pound, refrigerator-sized support device until a donor heart became available, enabling a permanent transplant.
Today, the CardioWest artificial heart is driven by a battery-operated pump housed in a wheeled cart that resembles a piece of airline carry-on luggage. "We will now be able to send patients home," said Dr. James Long, director of the artificial heart program.
The artificial heart program at LDS Hospital went on to implant the CardioWest temporary artificial heart in seven patients after Marsden but suspended its program in 1999 because the cost and risks of keeping a patient confined to a hospital for months on end made the program impractical, Long said.
Marsden was on hand as Intermountain made its announcement Monday. "Being at home makes the patient recover quicker," he said. Being with family, having friends over "the whole idea of being able to conduct your life" makes a huge difference as a patient waits for a permanent heart transplant, Marsden said.
"This device allowed me to survive to the point where I could have a transplant," Marsden said. "I've had a transplant now for 12 years and I have zero, zero side effects. I have no restrictions on my life."
Doctors don't expect the CardioWest heart or a device like it to be a permanent replacement for a transplanted human heart. Heart transplant surgeon Dr. Stephen Clayson said he does expect doctors will use the total artificial heart in three to five patients each year in cases where the patient needs a temporary solution while awaiting a heart transplant.
Intermountain Healthcare's new Intermountain Medical Center staff will be trained in January to work with the CardioWest heart. The company does not know how soon after that the first patient to receive the artificial heart under the new program will be identified.
Intermountain said that while the heart is FDA approved, the new portable console does not yet have FDA approval and its use is part of a clinical trial. Intermountain Medical Center will become one of "a handful" of medical centers in the nation to clinically evaluate the new portable console and will be the 12th center in the nation to implant the device.
E-mail: sfidel@desnews.com
Comments
- Aggies beat Spartans in snowy Logan 4:31 a.m.
- TCU 55, Utah 28 4:24 a.m.
- BYU 24, New Mexico 19 4:21 a.m.
- Jazz game at a glance 3:00 a.m.
- Real Salt Lake: Game at a glance 3:00 a.m.
- Stanford ends Y's soccer season 2:20 a.m.
- Jazz hope D-Will returns soon 2:19 a.m.
- Snow, SUU lose 2:18 a.m.
- Toone saves day for Wildcats 2:15 a.m.
- Win in New Mexico good for Y? 2:15 a.m.
- Apostle's wife felt comfort in attack
- Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
- BYU happy to escape with victory
- Short-handed Jazz fly past Sixers
- Crash on snowy road kills woman
- D-Will home for daughter
- Utes excited for 'dream' game
- GameDay in Fort Worth
- Bench proves fruitful for Y.
- Born of water and the spirit
- SLC council OKs gay rights policies
358 - Editorial: Mormons and gay rights
200 - BYU happy to escape with victory
194 - Will state consider gay rights law?
148 - TCU creams U.
134 - Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
130 - Letters: Strange breed in Utah
129 - Utes remain silent about BCS
120 - Pratt pleads not guilty to sex charges
106 - Celtics crush Jazz
104
If you are looking for a bird on the cheap, the following specials from...
How do you handle kids and contests? Our oldest daughter, 7, is of the...
So Great!!! So Proud - Love RSL - Bring Home The CUP!!!!!
mr cannon's bold assertation that the purpose of the first ammendemnt as...
Great great great game!!!! Nicky Rimando is a god! We're the most complete...
I had the game on DVR and just watched it. That was the most exciting game...
financially cannot this year, but I will watch loyally, how great to hear...
This is hardly surprising. Bennett has a remarkable arrogance which is also...
I guess that is why "they play the game" as Herman Edwards would say.. ...
What was the score of the LSU vs LA tech game? Alot closer than you'd like to...
Has Fedor not said that THIS IS OUR YEAR all year long? Go back and...
This is just a small glimpse of the future with Obamacare: corruption, waste...


You can be the first to comment on this story.