SynCardia Systems, Inc. (www.syncardia.com) announced today that Matthew Green, the UK’s 1st patient to be discharged with the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart, has been successfully bridged to transplant after almost two years of support.
Green, his wife and their 7-year-old son celebrated his new beginning with a holiday.
“I feel incredibly lucky that I have been given a third lease of life as a result of my heart transplant,” Green, 42, said recently. “It’s hard to put into words the gratitude I feel to my donor and their family. They have helped me to turn my life around again.”
Green, a pharmaceutical consultant from London, suffered from arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a heart muscle disease that results in arrhythmia, heart failure and sudden death. Back in the late spring of 2011, Green’s heart condition became critical. “By the time I was admitted to the hospital, I was struggling to walk even a few yards,” he recalled.
“Matthew’s condition was deteriorating rapidly and we discussed with him the possibility of receiving this device, because without it he may not have survived the wait until a suitable donor heart could be found for him,” said Steven Tsui, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Director of Transplant Service at Papworth Hospital. “The operation went extremely well.”
Green received his Total Artificial Heart on June 9, 2011.
