The first Slovak patient to be given an artificial heart has undergone a biological heart transplant at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NÚSCH) in Bratislava, wrote the TASR press agency on Monday. NÚSCH was the first institute in Central Europe to launch the SynCardia TAH Programme - Total Artificial Heart in November 2017, successfully transplanting an artificial heart into a 47-year old Jozef from Topoľčany in the Trnava Region. The artificial heart is powered by a driver in a backpack, weighing approximately 6 kg, which the patient wore on his back round the clock. "After being discharged from hospital, Jozef remained on the waiting list for a heart transplant. He's now back home after the transplant and feeling good," reported the NÚSCH. The more than two-hour operation was successful, with the patient recovering quickly.
Jozef was the 1,741st patient in the world to have an artificial heart implanted. TAH is the only device designed to replace a human heart completely. The procedure can be carried out only once, and when the patient acquires a donor heart, the TAH is sent back to the USA for an analysis of how it performed within the patient's chest so that the concept can be streamlined in the future.
