Experimental Artificial Heart Saves A Life

A new, smaller version of an already-approved artificial heart recently made a big impact on one patient's life.

A patient at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center became the first in the world to receive a successful heart transplant after receiving a smaller version of the experimental Total Artificial Heart (TAH).

The 50cc SynCardia temporary TAH is a temporary heart designed for use by smaller patients. It is a “smaller investigational version of the larger 70cc SynCardia heart, which was approved for use in people awaiting a transplant by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004 and has been used by more than 1,440 patients worldwide,” according to a University of California, Los Angeles, press release.

These artificial hearts are designed to help patients who are awaiting a heart transplant due to heart failure. The artificial hearts are temporary. They are removed when the patient receives a real heart via a transplant.

According to the press release, Nemah Kahala, 44, had “restrictive heart muscle disease and [was] in critical condition.” Because Kahala’s chest cavity was so small, the 70cc artificial heart couldn’t fit. The doctors were allowed to use the 50cc model under “one-time emergency use” granted by the FDA.

In heart disease patients like Kahala, the heart cannot effectively pump blood to the rest of the body.

“Mrs. Kahala’s condition was deteriorating so rapidly that she would have not survived while waiting for a transplant,” said her surgeon, Dr. Abbas Ardehali, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery and director of the UCLA Heart and Lung Transplant Program, in a press release. “We were grateful to have this experimental technology available to save her life and help bridge her to a donor heart.”

Once the TAH was implanted, Kahala had to wait two weeks to regain her strength and an additional week to find a donor heart.

After being discharged from the hospital in early April, Kahala is back home with her husband, four children and a new heart.

While the 50cc TAH appeared to work for Kahala, the FDA warns that the “50cc SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart is an investigational device, limited by United States law to investigational use."

The 50cc TAH is currently in an FDA-approved study. UCLA officials said they plan to begin enrolling study patients in the near future.