Plastic heart helps escape death

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LONDON: Surgeons claim to have carried out a ground-breaking artificial heart transplant operation on a 40-year-old man, suffering from end-stage failure of both chambers of his heart.

During a six-hour successful operation, surgeons at Papworth Hospital in the UK replaced Matthew Green's damaged heart with a device that they say will serve the role of both ventricles and heart valves, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

The device provides a blood flow up to 9.5 litres, eliminating symptoms and effects of heart failure. The artificial heart will be powered by a 'freedom portable driver' , worn like a backpack . A team, led by Steven Tsui, carried out the surgery. Green suffered from arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathia"Matthew's condition was deteriorating rapidly and we discussed with him the possibility of receiving this device, because without it he may not have survived the wait until a suitable donor heart could be found for him. The operation went extremely well and Matthew has made an excellent recovery.

"I expect him to go home very soon, being able to do a lot more than before the operation with a vastly improved quality of life, until we can find a suitable donor heart for him to have a heart transplant," Dr Tsui said.
A jubilant Green added: "Two years ago I was cycling nine miles to work and nine miles back every day but by the time I was admitted to hospital I was struggling to walk even a few yards.