Artificial Heart Put to Unique Use on Patient

An artificial heart was attached to a Northern California auto mechanic to support his own failing heart while he awaits a donor organ, it was disclosed Saturday.

Richard E. Dallara, 33, of Sonoma was judged to be hours from death when he underwent a five-hour operation Friday at Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center to implant the artificial Thoratec Heart, which has previously been used only to support a human heart’s pumping action during and after bypass surgery.

Dallara was in critical but stable condition Saturday, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Millhouse said.

Dallara’s degenerated cardiac muscle remained inside his chest, but blood was being pumped through the otherwise inoperable organ by the Thoratec Heart, Millhouse said.

New Use for Device

Dr. J. Donald Hill, who attached the pumping machine, said the device had never been used before in this way, and he did not know how long Dallara could survive without a human heart.

An urgent call for one was issued to hospitals and police facilities, he said.

The artificial heart was manufactured by Thoratec Laboratories of Berkeley, and has been used in clinical research for the last decade, Millhouse said.

Dallara was comatose with poor vital signs at the start of surgery, Millhouse said. His condition deteriorated Thursday to the point where cardiac replacement was necessary to prevent death, doctors said.

On Saturday, the patient’s blood pressure was good and he responded to family members. The unmarried man was visited by his parents, three brothers and four sisters.