Man Lived Without Heart For 555 Days Before Receiving Transplant, Older Brother Still Living Without Heart

Twenty-five-year-old Stan Larkin lived for 555 days without a human heart in his chest. Instead, a device called a SynCardia Freedom Total Artificial Heart, which he carried in a book bag, allowed him to lead a normal life. He even played pickup basketball, hauling his 13.5-pound artificial heart around the court with him.

Larkin’s older brother Dominique also relied on a similar device before a heart transplant in 2015.

The brothers were diagnosed as teenagers with familial cardiomyopathy, a type of heart failure that can strike seemingly healthy people without warning.

He finally received a heart transplant after the radical artificial heart kept him alive for a record-breaking 17 months.

The surgery performed by Jonathan Haft, M.D. comes after living more than a year without a human heart and relying on a heart device he carried in a backpack.

As the first patient in Michigan ever discharged with a SynCardia temporary total artificial heart in 2014, Stan Larkin was back at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center last month for a heart transplant.

It was an emotional rollercoaster,’ Larkin, 25, said at a news conference when he described living with the total artificial heart that was implanted to keep him alive until a donor heart became available.

“I got the transplant two weeks ago and I feel like I could take a jog as we speak.

“I want to thank the donor who gave themselves for me.

“I’d like to meet their family one day. Hopefully they’d want to meet me.”

With the total artificial heart there are two tubes that exit the body, and those tubes have to be connected to a machine that can deliver compressed air into the ventricles to allow blood to be pumped through the body.

Rather than stay in the hospital, Larkin used a wearable, 13.5 pound Freedom portable driver to keep the artificial heart going.

It’s linked to a leading cause of sudden death among athletes.

His brother also relied on the device to keep him alive – but received his transplant sooner.

‘They were both very, very ill when we first met them in our intensive care units,’ says Haft, associate professor of cardiac surgery.

“We wanted to get them heart transplants, but we didn’t think we had enough time.

“There’s just something about their unique anatomic situation where other technology wasn’t going to work.”

The temporary total artificial heart is used when both sides of the heart fail, and more common heart-supporting devices are not adequate to keep patients alive.

Some parts of the Total Artificial Heart have a 50-year working life, although patients are generally expected to use it for up to two years – during which it will ‘beat’ more than 200million times.

The rucksack contained a 14-pound battery powered pump that allowed him to leave the house for three-hour periods at a time.

Its US makers warn that using it more than two years because of the risk of blood clots building up.

Rather than stay in the hospital, Larkin used a wearable, 13.5 pound Freedom portable driver to keep the artificial heart going.

“He really thrived on the device,” Haft said looking at a photo of Stan on a basketball court. “This wasn’t made for pick-up basketball,” he joked.

Larkinh pushed the envelope with this technology.

As Haft teaches at the University of Michigan Medical School, the brothers have joined him to share the impact that circulatory support can have on those with end-stage heart failure.

Of the 5.7 million Americans living with heart failure, about 10 percent have advanced heart failure, according to the American Heart Association.

In the US alone, there are over 121,000 people on the organ transplant waiting list, and an average of 22 people die every day due to lack of available transplant organs.

Of the 5.7 million Americans living with heart failure, about 10 percent have advanced heart failure, according to the American Heart Association.

The temporary total artificial heart is used when both sides of the heart fail, and more common heart-supporting devices are not adequate to keep patients alive.

With the total artificial heart there are two tubes that exit the body, and those tubes have to be connected to a machine that can deliver compressed air into the ventricles to allow blood to be pumped through the body.

Some parts of the Total Artificial Heart have a 50-year working life, although patients are generally expected to use it for up to two years – during which it will ‘beat’ more than 200million times.

Rather than stay in the hospital, Larkin used a wearable, 13.5 pound Freedom portable driver to keep the artificial heart going.

The Freedom portable driver is powered by two lithium-ion batteries that are re-charged using a standard electrical outlet or the cigarette lighter adaptor in a car.

This allows patients to recharge their batteries while traveling and at night while they are sleeping.

“When eligible patients become stable, they can be switched from the C2 hospital driver to the Freedom portable driver, which provides the patient with greater mobility,” the firm behind it says.

“Patients who meet discharge criteria can then leave the hospital to wait for a matching donor heart at home and in their communities.”

Dr Denton Cooley implanted the first experimental device in Haskell Carp at St Luke’s Hospital in Houston in 1969.

The patient died three days later. Following animal testing in the 1970s, the next operation took place in 1982 when the Jarvik 7artificial heart was transplanted into a dentist called Barney Clark. 198 operations followed. By 2001 the first completely self-contained total artificial heart was implanted in Robert Tools at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville. And in 2008, Charles Okeke was implanted with the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart, becoming the the first patient to leave hospital with an artificial heart in May 2010. Since then the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart has been used in more than 900 implants in 65 hospitals.