By Katie Moisse An Italian heart surgeon holds a tiny titanium pump, the world's smallest artificial heart, which was implanted in a baby, at the Bambino Gesu' Hospital in Rome May 24, 2012. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
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Baby Saved by Smallest Artificial …
The Italian baby, whose name has not been released, had dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease that stretched the muscular walls of his heart so thin they could no longer contract to pump blood. He needed a transplant. But without a suitable donor on the horizon, doctors had to improvise.
"This patient, he was a mascot for us," said surgeon Antonio Amodeo of
Rome's Bambino Gesu Hospital, explaining how the baby had been in the
hospital's intensive care unit since he was one month old. "I said, 'He
cannot die; I have to do something for him.'"
Amodeo and his team had already tried a Berlin Heart, a scaled-down version of the left ventricular assist device once worn by former Vice President Dick Cheney.
But the device, with its tubes that run outside the body, triggered a
risky infection. So they turned to a tiny, 11-gram implantable pump
invented by American entrepreneur Dr. Robert Jarvik that had only been tested on animals.
"I said, 'Dr, Jarvik, please help me. I don't want to lose this
patient," Amodeo said, adding that the hospital needed special
permission from from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the
Italian Ministry of Health before proceeding with the unapproved device.
"We knew there were only a few animal experiments, but we knew it could
probably work."
And it did work, keeping the baby alive for 13 days before electrical
problems forced the doctors to switch back to the Berlin Heart. Two days
later, a donor heart became available.
"It's incredible," said Amodeo, adding that the transplant, which took
place in April, was successful and the baby will be discharged any day
now. "We are all extremely happy because the little boy will be in his
mother's hands. He's going to be fine."
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