FDA Approves 2nd Artificial Heart

A doctor at Hershey Medical Center today received federal approval to use an artificial heart that he and others developed as a means to keep patients alive until a donor heart can be obtained, a spokesman said.

Dr. William S. Pierce is the second doctor in the country with Food and Drug Administration approval to use an artificial heart, spokesman Carl Andrews said.

Andrews said there are currently no potential patients for the heart.

The air-driven device, nicknamed the Penn State Heart, is the result of 15 years of work by Pierce, 48, and his associates. The Penn State heart is similar to the permanent mechanical pump placed in three patients by Dr. William DeVries.

Doctors at University Hospital in Tucson, Ariz., last week implanted an unauthorized artificial heart to help keep a man alive between human heart transplants. The patient later died.