Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Two Houston surgeons have successfully implanted the world's first continuous-flow artificial heart in a human patient, a significant advance that promises a smaller and much more durable alternative to existing artificial hearts.

Drs. Bud Frazier and Billy Cohn took out the dead heart of 55-year-old Craig A. Lewis on March 10 at the Texas Heart Institute.

After harmful proteins built up in his heart to the point it could no longer work, Lewis lived only with the aid of external breathing, dialysis and heart support machines.

The Houston man had maybe a day to live when Frazier and Cohn were given the opportunity to test their device — a pair of turbines cobbled together to mimic the function of the heart's left and right ventricles — that had been implanted only in 37 calves.

So far Lewis is recovering well, doctors say."