Arkansas' first recipient of a total artificial heart, a battery-operated technology that replaces heart function while a patient waits for a donor organ, has received a heart transplant.
Chadarius Johnson, 23, of Jonesboro had surgery to receive a new heart Thursday at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock. He'd been using the total artificial heart since April 2017, said Dr. John Ransom, surgical director at Baptist Health Heart Transplant Institute.
When Johnson got the call that a heart had become available, "he jumped up and said 'I'm on my way' ... He was pretty excited," Ransom said.
A total artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart's left and right ventricles, which are the chambers that push blood through the arteries and aorta to the rest of the body. The device was first approved by the FDA in 2004, according to a timeline on manufacturer SynCardia's website.
Installed via surgery, a total artificial heart also features a power supply, which the patient usually carries around in a backpack. Tubes routed through the abdomen connect the artificial heart and the power source.
Standing near his patient, Ransom said you could hear the heart at work, though after some time Johnson told doctors he no longer noticed it.
"You and I, we could hear him walking down the hall," Ransom said.
Johnson was one of about 25 people in the United States and roughly 50 worldwide with total artificial hearts when his was installed, Ransom said. They aren't especially common because for most people, treatment with medication or a different tool called a left ventricular assist device works well enough.
However, Johnson, whose condition is a failure of the heart muscle called idiopathic cardiomyopathy, had needed something more comprehensive to buy him time while he waited for a transplant.
The longest a total artificial heart successfully has been used is four and a half years, Ransom said, which meant the clock was ticking for Johnson, who had had one for more than a year and a half. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, there are 3,856 people on the waitlist for a donor heart.
When an organ becomes available, the turnaround is quick. Johnson entered surgery Thursday evening, about 24 hours after he'd heard there was a match.
By Friday morning, he was visiting with doctors, and he was scheduled to take his first steps around the unit on Monday, Ransom said.
While he said there always are things to watch for after a transplant, Ransom said it's likely that Johnson, who is in good shape and is known around the hospital for his "optimistic" and "energetic" personality, will thrive.
Ransom also expects to see more advanced artificial hearts someday appearing on the market, pointing out that he's already working with the third generation of left ventricular assist devices.
NW News on 11/21/2018