Can the heart titanium be a solution to the global defect of the heart provider? | Health news

The Australian man with heart failure became the first person in the world to survive more than 100 days with the artificial heart of Titan as he waited to receive the donor transplant.

The breakthrough raises hopes that one day a completely mechanical heart could replace the need for a donor transplant.

Heart disease and surrounding blood vessels are the leading cause of death globally, killing about 17.9 million people each year, according to the World Health Organization.

Here’s what to know about how the heart of Titanium acts and can it resolve the global shortage of the donor?

What happened to a man artificial heart?

The man in his forties, who refused to be identified, became the first person to be discharged from the hospital with a completely artificial implant of the heart.

During the six -hour operation in November 2024. At St Vincent Hospital in Sydney, Bivacor Total Artificial Heart (Tah) made of titanium was built into a patient, which he experienced Strong heart failure.

After spending several weeks in intensive care, followed by observing at the hospital, the patient was discharged in early February.

He lived with an artificial heart for 105 days before he received a donor’s heart transplant on March 6, and is currently recovering well, according to his doctors.

Did anyone else have a Titan’s heart transplant?

In July 2024, a 57-year-old man with a heart failure in the final stage received Bivacor Tah at the Baylor St Luke Medical Center at Houston, Texas.

This was the first human implantation of Titan’s heart, which served as a bridge to the true transplantation of the heart. The device supported the patient for eight days in the hospital until the donor’s heart became available.

Between July and November 2024, four men in the middle of the forties to the mid-1960s also received Bivacor Tah in the United States. Each patient successfully switched to the Donor Heart Transplant and was discharged from the hospital within a month. None of American patients left the hospital with the device.

Can this solve the lack of heart provider?

Titan’s heart could help solve the lack of donors by maintaining patients alive while waiting for the right heart transplant. However, it is still uncertain whether it can ever serve as a lasting replacement for the human heart.

For example, procedures in the US were part of a study of a wound of feasibility with five people approved by the Food and Medication Administration (FDA), and it is planned to expand trials to another 15 patients in the coming months. The goal of such experiments is to determine if Titan’s heart can safely Keep patients alive While waiting for a transplant.

Finding the heart of donors is not easy because it is not sufficient at its disposal, and the heart alignment with the patient may take time. In the UK, for example, patients on the regular waiting list for the donor heart are usually waiting for 18 to 24 months. Those in emergencies or emergencies receive priority and can receive their heart before because their condition is more critical.

Heart failure affects at least 26 million people around the world, including 6.2 million adults in the United States. However, heart transplants remain rare and less than 6,000 are performed globally each year, reserved only for the most difficult cases.

How does the heart of the Titan have to do?

The artificial heart of titanium seems very different from the real heart. The natural heart beats, squeezing and relaxing to pump the blood, but this artificial heart does not knock at all.

Instead, he has a premature disk that moves blood around the body. This disk hovering in place using magnets, so it never touchs anything, which means that there is no friction and less chance of wandering over time.

To keep running, an artificial heart needs a small external regulator, which is powered by batteries during the day and engages in the power source at night. A thin cable flows under the skin to connect the heart to this controller.

Most artificial heart devices replace only one side of the heart, usually the left. But the heart of Bivacor completely replaces the entire organ, which makes it an option for people whose whole heart perishes and who may not survive while waiting for the donor’s heart.

Why was the titanium chosen for the artificial heart?

Titanium is chosen because it is strong, light and resistant to corrosion, which makes it ideal for long -term use in the body. Unlike other artificial hearts, which have more moving parts that can be worn out, this one has only one spinning disk, reducing risk of failure.

Before developing the artificial heart of Bivacor, the Sincardia Total artificial heart was the most commonly used device for patients with severe heart failure.

Approved by the FDA in the early 2000s, the Sincardia heart is made primarily from polyurethane, a type of durable plastic. In the last two decades, it has been temporarily built into more than 2,000 patients in 20 countries, while waiting for the Donor heart transplant. However, the Syncardia device is relatively large and complex, with more moving parts that can be worn over time.

Scientists also have Explored using animal organs treat heart failure. In January 2022, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Maryland in the United States performed the first transplantation of genetically modified pork heart into a human patient with severe heart disease.

Despite its initial success, the patient developed complications and passed away about two months later.

How long could the heart of Titan last?

At the moment, no one knows the exact life span of Titan’s heart in people. In laboratory tests, the device has continuously acted for more than four years without a sign of failure.

While the 100-day trial of the Australian man was the longest recorded use of Titan’s heart in man, the Bivacor team said Further trials are required to determine if it can become a long -term replacement, not just a temporary transplant bridge.

The development of the device began in 2001 when Daniel Timms, inspired by the heart condition of his father, began working on a concept during a doctorate at Queensland Technology University in Australia. Since then, last year of research, redesign and animal testing such as calves and pigs.

What challenges come with an artificial heart?

One of the biggest challenges with organs transplantation is immune rejection, where the body attacks a new organ as a foreign object.

Since the heart of the bivacor titanium does not contain any biological tissue, the risk of rejection is lower compared to the hearts of the donor or transplantation of pork heart. However, experimental protocols show that patients continue to take blood dilute medicines to prevent clotting around the device.

In addition, patients with bivacor heart must remain associated with an external energy source at all times.

Although portable batteries packages allow some mobility, the procedure still requires a lifestyle adaptation such as a battery filling, avoiding activities that could damage the outside parts and carefully planning of travel to ensure access to power.