New mechanical hearts give gift of life at UHSM
'“They are getting used to living with their new hearts and its still early days, but all is going to plan. This is a first for our hospital and the North West, and we have been funded to undertake three more similar operations when suitable candidates are identified.”
Mr Nizar Yonan
Transplant Director
Doctors at UHSM have successfully performed the North West’s first operations involving mechanical hearts. A Manchester man and a woman from Blackburn, who both suffered severe heart failure, have been given the artificial hearts as a ‘bridge’ while they await transplant surgery. Both are recovering well, and are expected to be allowed home by the end of the month.
The 63-year-old man doesn’t wish to be identified, but the second recipient, 66-year old Jean Smith from Rishton, near Blackburn, says she’s happy to share her good news. She says: “I’ve been given new lease of life for which I am truly grateful. I am fine. The feeling of breathlessness has gone. I’m tired of course, but very hopeful for the future.”
The mechanical devices, known as LVADs (Left Ventricular Assist Devices) cost £80,000 each and include a Titanium pump that weighs almost 2lbs and rotates nine times faster than an electric drill. They work by being connected to the left ventricle of the heart, either directly or by a tube. They remove oxygen rich blood which is pumped to the aorta and then on to the rest of the body.
Mrs Smith, a retired nurse who has three children and 10 grandchildren, has a 15-year history of heart trouble and over that time has had five pacemakers fitted. She explains: “Up to two year’s ago I was swimming 40 lengths at the baths at a time. I was coping well. But things slowly went from bad to worse. I became tired and lethargic. It got so bad I couldn’t walk more than a few yards without getting breathless.“
"Last June I was put on the heart transplant list. But doctors here at Wythenshawe Hospital assessed me at the end of February and said my condition showed signs of worsening. It looked bleak, but then I was told about the mechanical heart. I understood it was a pioneering procedure but, short of a transplant, I had no other option. I wasn’t frightened. I knew I was in good hands, and I was right.”