News: 0176704109

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Man Survives With Titanium Heart For 100 Days - a World First (nature.com)

(Thursday March 13, 2025 @06:40PM (msmash) from the heart-of-titanium dept.)


An Australian man in his forties has become the first person in the world to [1]leave hospital with an artificial heart made of titanium . From a report:

> The device is used as a stopgap for people with heart failure who are waiting for a donor heart, and previous recipients of this type of artificial heart had remained in US hospitals while it was in place.

>

> The man lived with the device for more than three months until he underwent surgery to receive a donated human heart. The man is recovering well, according to a statement from St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia, where the operations were conducted. The Australian is the sixth person globally to receive the device, known as BiVACOR, but the first to live with it for more than a month.



[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00782-0



That's nothing (Score:1, Offtopic)

by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )

Dick Cheney has a heart made from radioactive asbestos.

When will my replacement heart be ready? (Score:2)

by shanen ( 462549 )

Going for funny? Many people probably don't know the context. Cheney was sustained by a kind of artificial heart for a long period before he got a transplant. He wasn't completely heartless, as I recall, though his own heart wasn't doing much in the period before the transplant. I remember "congestive heart failure" being mentioned.

However the real significance of this story depends on other factors. One angle would be to create artificial hearts that are good enough for long-term use, but I think the more

Re: (Score:2)

by thrasher thetic ( 4566717 )

Powered by freshly extracted Adrenochrome and the souls of all the birds that never were.

Re: That's nothing (Score:2)

by zawarski ( 1381571 )

He also does not have a pulse (seriously).

Re: (Score:1)

by MrData ( 130916 )

You know Cheney switched sides and is now a pinko-red-diaper-doper-baby-commie-lib who voted for Kamala Harris to "preserve our democracy", right ? So now you have just committed an EU hate crime.

False or misleading? (Score:2)

by backslashdot ( 95548 )

Other sources claim the world record is over 2500 days using a Syncardia total artificial heart. Reference: [1]https://www.syncardia.com/down... [syncardia.com] or [2]https://www.biospace.com/turki... [biospace.com]

Still this is great news, it sounds like in a generation or two these devices will be perfected. Syncardia recently announced their next generation device will have major improvements.

[1] https://www.syncardia.com/download/syncardia_pressrelease_24122024.pdf

[2] https://www.biospace.com/turkish-man-becomes-world-s-longest-supported-syncardia-total-artificial-heart-patient

Re: (Score:3)

by JoshuaZ ( 1134087 )

It seems like this is a record for one made specifically of titanium.

Re: (Score:2)

by bugs2squash ( 1132591 )

I wonder what the major advantages are, presumably having less mass sewn into the body is a plus.

Heavy metal (Score:2)

by Thud457 ( 234763 )

'Titanium Heart' is pretty badass.

Re: (Score:3)

by JudgeFurious ( 455868 )

I think he should be required to fight crime with it.

And tomorrow... (Score:2)

by AnonymousNoel ( 6972222 )

And tomorrow... "Man Survives With Titanium Heart For 101 Days - another World First".

Wake me up when.... (Score:2)

by drew_92123 ( 213321 )

....it's nuclear powered and has a 100 year warranty.

Long May You Run, (Score:2)

by newbie_fantod ( 514871 )

Long may you run,

With your chrome heart shining,

In the sun,

Long - may - you - run.

Long time coming (Score:3)

by necro81 ( 917438 )

IEEE Spectrum had a [1]feature piece about this device [ieee.org]...in 2019. At the time, they reported multiple successful implantations in sheep and (small) cows. In the article, they say that the main person behind it, Daniel Timms, had already been working on it for 18 years.

Whether it can work as a semi-permanent implant, or is limited just to compassionate or bridge-to-transplant use, remains to be seen.

[1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/this-maglev-heart-could-keep-cardiac-patients-alive

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