Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona has become the first US hospital to discharge a patient with an artificial heart.

Charles Okeke, 43, was implanted with a SynCardia Total Artificial Heart in September 2008, after his own heart had suffered damage requiring its complete removal.

The patient's artificial heart, which can pump almost 10 litres of blood, was powered for more than 600 days by a 400-pound SynCardia Big Blue machine while he remained in hospital.

In March 2010, the FDA granted conditional approval for the SynCardia Freedom Driver, a 13-pound compact version of the Big Blue that can be carried or worn as a backpack.

The new device allowed Okeke to go home to his family in May 2010. Those welcoming him outside the hospital included his wife Natalie and Dr. Francisco Arabia, Okeke's surgeon and an advocate of the compact device.

Okeke has depended on his artificial heart for a long time, because his body produces antibodies that make it difficult for him to receive a matching donor heart. His body rejected a donor heart a number of years ago.

Mayo Clinic is participating in an FDA Investigational Device Exemption of the Freedom Driver. The device is intended as a bridge to transplant.

 
Freedom Driver