First time: Artificial heart transplanted in infant
For the first time ever, Israeli doctors transplant artificial heart in 2-year-old infant. Only some 20 such operations have been done worldwide
Shortly after his birth doctors diagnosed Roee Dontz of Migdal Haemek with heart failure.
Roee, who is now two years old, has already undergone bypass surgery but it wasn't completely successful: His heart still failed to pump enough blood to the rest of his body.
In the past few weeks Roee's condition deteriorated and he was hospitalized at the Tel Hashomer medical center. His situation continued to worsen and the doctors had no choice but to resort to a heart transplant. However due to an organ shortage in the country doctors were faced with a difficult choice – wait for a heart which may or may not come, or transplant an artificial heart.
In Israel this type of procedure has only been performed on adults. Globally, only twenty such transplants have been performed on children.
Dr. Jacob (Jay) Lavie, who heads the heart transplant unit at the Sheba hospital in Tel Hashomer, said that when the decision to transplant an artificial heart was made, Roee was only an estimated 24 to 48 hours away from dying.
"We've had similar cases in the past," said Dr. Lavie, "but then we sent the children to undergo the procedure in Germany. Roee's situation was so critical that we feared we'd lose him within hours. This time we gathered the courage we needed to go ahead with the operation."
Transplanting an artificial heart (a sort of 'suitcase' which the person is attached to and which can operate without electricity for half an hour) is particularly dangerous in children due to the risk of blood clots forming in the machine and the use of blood thinners to prevent this.
The machine itself is manufactured only by the Berlin Heart company, and only in one location in the world – Germany.
"It was a race against the clock," recalled Dr. Lavie as he explained the complex logistical operation to bring the equipment to Israel on time. "We started the operation while the equipment was still on its way from the airport."
The operation – from Berlin to Tel Hashomer (Photo: Ido Snir)
Roee's mother was overjoyed: "This gives me the hope I needed to wait for the real transplant, I thank God for this option."
Other than the defect in his heart Roee has developed like any normal two year old and before the surgery spoke his first words – "Mommy", "Daddy" and "no".
The artificial heart costs 70,000 Euro (USD 89,422) and was brought to Israel by the Sheba medical center and the Maccabi HMO.
