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 Nov. 15 to receive a new heart at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock. He had been using the 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.
The device 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 surgically, the artificial heart also features a power supply, which the patient usually carries in a backpack. Tubes routed through the abdomen connect the artificial heart and the power source.
Standing near his patient, Ransom said the sound of the heart working can be heard, though Johnson told doctors that after some time, 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 has been used is 4½ years, Ransom said, which meant the clock was ticking for Johnson, who had had his for more than a year and a half. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, there are 3,856 people on waiting lists for donor hearts.
When an organ becomes available, the turnaround is quick. Johnson entered surgery in the evening, about 24 hours after he'd heard there was a match.
By the next morning, he was visiting with doctors, and he was scheduled to take his first steps around the unit just days later, 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, and said that he's already working with the third generation of left ventricular assist devices.
Metro on 11/23/2018