Woman Jarvik Heart Patient’s Chances Drop

The chances of survival for the first female artificial heart recipient have dropped to less than 50-50, doctors said Monday, noting her recent inability to respond to commands and her malfunctioning kidneys.

In a later statement, however, doctors said that brain tests on Mary Lund showed improvement in her neurological functions.

Lund, 40, remained in critical but stable condition at Abott-Northwestern Hospital, five days after her failing heart was replaced by a Jarvik-7 heart in an attempt to keep her alive until a human heart could be transplanted.

Doctors had said Thursday, the day her operation ended, that Lund had a better-than-even chance of surviving until a transplant, which could not be performed for several weeks.

Undergoing Dialysis

But Dr. Fredarick Gobel, a spokesman for the four-surgeon implant team, said Monday of the woman’s chances of surviving: “I believe they are less than 50-50 at the present time. I cannot speculate on how much more severe they are, but certainly the lack of improvement has been discouraging.”

Lund’s kidney problems have made necessary two forms of dialysis treatment to help her body dispose of waste products. Gobel said that the treatments, which began Saturday, would continue indefinitely. He said doctors believe it will be 10 to 14 days before her kidneys are working properly.

Doctors said that the artificial heart, which is 30% smaller than those implanted in seven men since 1983, has not caused Lund’s problems. Her slow recovery is the result of her extreme illness before the implant and the fact that the implant may not have been done soon enough, Gobel said.

“I think, in her case, in retrospect, she was deteriorating faster than we were able to keep up with,” he said.