Australian man with titanium heart lives 105 days before donor implant

SYDNEY – An Australian man lived for 105 days with a titanium heart that uses magnetic levitation technology before receiving a donated human heart, the longest period for a patient with the device implanted, an Australian research group has said.

The device was invented by Dr Daniel Timms, founder and chief technology officer of US-Australian medical company BiVacor. It uses a magnetically levitated rotor to pump blood to the body and lungs, employing technology used in maglev trains such as Japan’s Linear Chuo Shinkansen line under construction to link Tokyo and Nagoya.

BiVacor worked with international experts, including Professor Toru Masuzawa of Ibaraki University in Japan and an expert in magnetic levitation technology, during the early stages of development, according to the company.

The Australian patient in his 40s with severe heart failure underwent a six-hour procedure to implant the artificial heart at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney on Nov 22, 2024, according to the research group consisting of experts from BiVacor, Monash University and other institutions.

In early February, the patient became the first in the world to be discharged from hospital with the titanium artificial heart, the research group named the Artificial Heart Frontiers Programme said in a statement on March 12, adding he received a donor heart transplant earlier in March and is recovering well.

Dr Chris Hayward, a cardiologist of St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, said the device would transform heart failure treatment, according to the statement.

“Within the next decade, we will see the artificial heart becoming the alternative for patients who are unable to wait for a donor heart or when a donor heart is simply not available,” Dr Hayward was quoted by the statement as saying.

According to BiVacor, the no-contact suspension of the rotor enabled by magnets eliminates wear and tear. With fewer moving