A Czech father of one who survived
for more than six months without a
real heart has died at the age of
37.
Jakub Halik had his heart replaced
with two mechanical pumps in
pioneering surgery last April after an
aggressive cancerous tumour was
found.
Doctors say his death was caused by
liver failure, and not the artificial
heart itself.
Mr Halik, a former firefighter, was
waiting on the transplant list for a
suitable donor when he died.
Despite not having a pulse and
always having to carry a battery pack
to power his mechanical heart, Mr
Halik was able to walk around and
even use the hospital gym.
He was not able to accept a donor
heart earlier because the cancer
meant he would not be able to take
the drugs he would need for a
successful organ transplant.
The radical surgery had only ever
been tried on one other patient, a
man in Texas, who survived for just a
week.
'Healthy man'
Mr Halik's operation was carried out
by Jan Pirk, director of cardiology at
the Institute of Clinical and
Experimental Medicine in Prague.
His team used two plastic pumps,
each designed to perform the
separate tasks of the left and right
sides of the heart.
Speaking at a press conference in
August more than four months after
the surgery, Mr Halik said he felt "very
good physically", and said he had
made the right choice to proceed
with the operation.
"It was hard for me but I didn't have
any other chance at all," he told
reporters. "It was acknowledged that
with the tumour I can survive for
about one year and I decided to fight
and do it this way."
He said the experience of living
without a heart had not been
difficult.
"I don't even realise it, because the
functions of the body are the same,
only my heart is not beating and I
have no pulse anymore," Mr Halik
said. "Otherwise I am functioning like
a healthy man at present."
Doctors said it is unclear how Mr
Halik's liver failed. They are awaiting
the outcome of a post-mortem
examination.
Bbc
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