Recently, the 76-year-old Ms. Chen with end-stage heart disease, received a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) at the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital and has recovered.
This is the oldest patient with artificial heart implantation in China. The medical team used a domestic LVAD to help the patient reboot her life.
(Photo provided to GDToday)
Ms. Chen is a patient with end-stage heart failure. She developed symptoms of chest tightness and shortness of breath five years ago. The patient once underwent surgery at a local hospital, but her symptoms were not relieved significantly and even became more severe.
In recent months, Ms. Chen could not lie down to sleep all night. Considering her age, the local hospital was unable to do anything. She then went to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital for medical treatment.
After Ms. Chen was admitted to the hospital, Zheng Junmeng, Director of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, conducted examinations on her. He also used vasoactive drugs, diuretics, and so on to adjust the patient's cardiac function, but the results were not satisfactory. According to the judgment of the medical team, artificial heart implantation was the only hope for Ms. Chen's survival.
"The patient was in end-stage heart failure, had extremely poor nutritional status, and weighed less than 45kg, with a history of gastrointestinal bleeding. It greatly increased the risk of surgery." Zheng said that the team organized multiple joint discussions with Chinese and foreign experts and multidisciplinary consultations in the hospital. Finally, the artificial heart implantation plan and operation time were set.
The doctor successfully implanted an ultra-small maglev artificial heart into the patient. Ms. Chen woke up on the first day after the operation. After more than a month of recovery and treatment, she was transferred out of the general ward and began adaptive training for the artificial heart under the guidance of the team.
Zheng pointed out, there is no clear age limit for artificial heart surgery. Owing to postoperative anticoagulation, only high risk of bleeding is included as an absolute contraindication. Even older patients have the opportunity to receive artificial heart implantation.
Author | Hannah
Editor | Wing, Steven, Monica, Jerry
