Feb 19, 2007 4:00 pm US/Eastern
Health: Temporary Artificial Hearts
by Stephanie Stahl
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
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The temporary Total Artificial Heart has been approved by the F.D.A. to help extend the survival of those waiting for a heart transplant.
CBS
Medical Reporter Stephanie Stahl reports on a medical breakthrough being done in Philadelphia for the first time in the Northeast that has, so far, been saving the life of a former fitness instructor.
It's a first of its kind, a temporary artificial heart.
Many do not survive the wait for a heart transplant because there are not enough donor. Brand new technology is making the wait less deadly
46-year-old Gary Onufer from Ambler is lucky to be alive. He suffers from biventricular end-stage heart failure.
"I had shortness of breath, I felt like I was suffocating," he said. "The discomfort just became unbearable. "
Now Onufer's the first person in the Northeast to receive a F.D.A. approved temporary Total Artificial Heart.
"Right now I feel great. It's just a wonderful feeling when you can breathe normal," she said.
"We actually cut the heart out, which is why this is groundbreaking. This is a true total artificial heart," said Dr. Roh Morris.
Surgeon Dr. Morris is part of the surgery team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who performed Onufer's surgery on February 12.
The new device replaced Onufer's own heart to help him survive the wait for a new human heart.
"It's a pumping chamber that has a bladder inside. When blood enters and the machine senses it, it then squeezes that bladder then blood is ejected," said Dr. Morris.
Research has shown patients who receive the total artificial heart have almost twice the survival rate compared to patients who get the more standard treatment with other devices.
"It's doubling his chances," said Dr. Morris.
For now, Onufer will wait at the hospital for his a new human heart.
"I'm very optimistic about the future," he said. "Chances are within maybe a couple months I'll get a new heart."
The lifesaving technology is used for patients who are waiting for a donor human heart and who have both sides of their heart failing, do not respond to other treatments and are at imminent risk of death.
Right now there are only 9 centers in the United States capable of implanting the Temporary Artificial Heart.
To get more information about the procedure being done at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania call
1-800-780-PENN.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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