Tucson Doctors Transplant Human Heart to Replace Mechanical Pump in Patient : Recipient Drummond Survived for Nine Days With Jarvik-7 Device
Doctors transplanted a human heart Saturday into the chest of Michael Drummond, the youngest man to receive an artificial heart, after the Jarvik-7 pump had kept him alive for nine days.
The surgery marked the first time the Jarvik-7 has been replaced by a human heart.
Drummond was in critical but stable condition after receiving the heart of a 19-year-old accident victim in a 4-hour, 45-minute operation, Dr. Jack Copeland said.
Survival Chances
The surgeon put Drummond’s chances of surviving for a year at 75% to 80% and of surviving for five years at 50%.
Nina Trasoff, a hospital spokeswoman, said doctors expect Drummond to be released in three to four weeks.
The surgeons were so optimistic that Trasoff said: “Michael Drummond is no longer exceptional. He is just another heart transplant patient.”
Drummond was wheeled into the operating room at 11:30 p.m. Friday after a medical team in Texas notified Copeland that the heart of Tarro Griffin was compatible for a transplant.
At 2 a.m., doctors opened Drummond’s chest and, at 2:28 a.m., a helicopter landed at University Medical Center with Griffin’s heart carried in a red-and-white ice chest.
‘Perfect Timing’
“The timing was just about perfect,” Copeland said at a news briefing after the surgery.
Doctors removed the Jarvik-7 heart in six minutes and started to attach the human heart at 2:40 a.m. Drummond was on a coronary bypass machine until 4:13 a.m., when the donor heart took over. Surgery was completed at 6:45 a.m.
“We had to wait a considerable amount of time waiting for the bleeding to stop,” Copeland said. “There was more bleeding than we had hoped for, but when we closed, the bleeding seemed to be in control.”
The surgery marked the first time the Jarvik-7 has been used to keep a patient alive until a human donor heart could be found for transplant. Five previous implants were intended to permanently sustain lives.
Impact on Artificial Heart
“I think if Mike does well and survives, that this will have an impact on the use of the Jarvik-7 or other artificial heart devices in transplants,” Copeland said. “The whole point of all this is to prolong life. For people who have bad hearts, there is a device now that can substitute for the heart.
“We’re very excited,” Copeland added. “We’re happy that things have worked out well so far. But I don’t believe anyone on the team would really claim to have achieved (artificial heart) bridge to transplant unless the transplant is successful. . . . We know we face days and weeks in the face of rejection and other complications.”
When asked about Drummond’s feelings as he entered the operating room, Copeland said: “Mike seemed to have a normal response, I think, to what was going on. He has a very strong will to live. He showed a lot of spirit and courage, and, at the same time, he admitted fear.”
Dr. Cecil Vaughn, a cardiac surgeon who assisted in the operation, said he spoke briefly with Drummond before surgery.
Vaughn said Drummond told him: “I guess the whole hospital’s pulling for me.”
Vaughn replied: “How about the world?”
When the Jarvik-7 was implanted, Drummond was within 16 hours of death, doctors said.
Timetable Escalated
The timetable for his transplant was escalated after Drummond suffered a series of tiny strokes Thursday morning, and Copeland said he feared further problems if the artificial heart was not replaced immediately. All three other living Jarvik-7 recipients--William J. Schroeder and Murray P. Haydon in Louisville, Ky., and Leif Stenberg in Sweden--have suffered strokes.
Temporary artificial hearts have been used four times without authorization to keep patients alive until donor hearts could be found for transplants.
The most recent such attempt was when Copeland used the so-called Phoenix Heart on March 7. The recipient, Thomas Creighton, 33, lived for 11 hours with the artificial heart before receiving two human heart transplants, but he died the day after the transplants.
