Utrecht surgeons implant first artificial heart in Netherlands

Specialists at UMC Utrecht successfully implanted an entirely artificial heart in a patient with very severe heart failure early this month. This was the first surgery of its kind in the Netherlands. The test patient, a 54-year-old man, is doing well. He was out of intensive care within two days, the hospital said on its website

The surgery is part of a long-term international research project to find a reliable alternative to donors' hearts. The study was approved by UMC Utrecht's medical ethics review committee. "There is a major shortage of donors' hearts in the Netherlands, Linda van Laake, a cardiologist closely involved in the project, said to NOS. "Not only does this artificial heart help people who have to wait too long for a donor's heart, it also has potential to help people who would not survive a normal donor's heart transplant." 

Patients with a transplanted organ have to take drugs to suppress their immune system so that their body does not reject the new organ. "That can be problematic for people who have had cancer, for example. They simply cannot do without a strong immune system," Van Laake explained ."With this artificial heart, heavy medication is not necessary. And that is much better for the immune system and reduces the risk of infection."

Cardiothoracic surgeon Faiz Ramjankhan and a large team prepared for four years for this "extremely stressful operation," he said on the UMC Utrecht site. "We have been working with our team since 2017 to enable the implantation of an artificial heart in the context of research. Over the past few months, we followed specific training sessions with the entire team to perform this operation, which resembles a heart transplant."

The artificial heart used was developed by the French biomedical company Carmat. In the first study, from 2013 to 2015, A Carmat heart was implanted in four patients with end-stage and irreversible heart failure. Their average survival was 164 days after implantation. Two patients died due to technical defects in the device, which was then adapted accordingly.

In the current study, which started in 2016, fifteen patients received a Carmat heart in France, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Kazakhstan. Their average lifespan so far is 216 days after implantation. For seven patients, that was enough time to qualify for a donor's heart and undergo another heart transplant. 

So far, the maximum extra lifespan for a patient with this artificial heart has been two years. The Utrecht team will investigate how the artificial heart can become reliable enough for long-term use. "We think this heart can be used for much longer. We want to investigate this further and are now raising funds for this research," Van Laake.