Artificial Heart Recipient a Risk-Taker at Heart
Continues Steady Improvement

"I had reached the end of the line. It was either have the surgery or die," said Bobby Harrison.

Four months ago Harrison, 69, became the third person in the world to be implanted with an AbioCor replacement heart. Unlike previous artificial hearts intended only to keep patients alive while they waited for a human heart to become available for transplant, the AbioCor is designed to function as a permanent replacement for a diseased human heart.

Harrison continues to make a slow and steady recovery at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, home of the Texas Heart Institute, where more than a decade of studies have led to the final design of the heart.

The patient shared his progress at a Jan. 16 news conference, the first time he has "gone public" since his Sept. 26 surgery.

"Before I got this heart, I couldn’t breathe ... I didn’t have enough wind to walk 20 feet. Now, I got plenty," said Harrison, a former oil well firefighter who lived a high-risk lifestyle, traveling the world fighting fires and blowouts alongside the likes of such legends as Red Adair. In 1968, Harrison created a controlled fire for the movie "Hellfighters," which documented the Boots and Coots legend. Harrison’s firefighting days came to an end in 1992 when he suffered a massive heart attack after years of cigarette smoking. He was never able to return to work, and his health declined over the ensuing years.

"Mr. Harrison became very, very ill. Not only was his heart failing, but his kidneys, liver and lungs were declining as well. He didn’t have enough energy to complete a sentence without gasping for breath," said Dr. Tehreen Khan, one of the patient’s cardiologists at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and a co-investigator of the AbioCor trial.

The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is one of five sites approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to participate in a clinical trial of the AbioCor heart. The FDA has authorized a total of 15 AbioCor implants to be completed by mid-year. Six implants have been conducted to date.

To qualify, patients must have a greater than 70 percent chance of dying within 30 days if not offered the surgery, and doctors must have exhausted all clinical options. Lung problems prevented Harrison from being considered for a human heart transplant.

After doctors informed Harrison that he was a candidate for the artificial heart, he wasn’t even halfway home to Palacios, Texas when he decided to "go for it."

Harrison says there is "no comparison" between his old and new hearts, and marvels that his feet are now warm.

"Before the operation, they were cold all the time," recalled Harrison, whose failing heart lacked the strength needed to pump blood to his extremities.

The AbioCor is an engineering milestone, said Dr. O.H. Frazier, chief of cardiopulmonary transplantation and director of surgical research at the Texas Heart Institute, and chief of transplant service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital. Dr. Frazier worked with ABIOMED Inc. in Massachusetts to develop the heart, and led the surgical team which implanted the device in Harrison. About the size of a grapefruit, the three-pound AbioCor is constructed of plastic and titanium. A small battery pack in a waistbelt sends power across the skin to the artificial heart.

"If the clinical trials of the AbioCor are successful, patients may no longer have to die while waiting for a human heart," Dr. Frazier said.

The American Heart Association reports that only 2,000 human hearts become available each year for transplant, while more than 700,000 Americans die each year from heart failure.

Of the six patients who have received an AbioCor replacement heart so far, half remain alive today. One patient did not survive the surgery, one died from multiple organ failure 56 days after the surgery, and one died due to abdominal bleeding after 151 days of support with the artificial heart. The remaining three are recovering with no meaningful clinical problems, and all report a significant quality of life improvement.

Doris Harrison, Bobby’s wife of 21 years, says her husband is planning for the future, and definitely has a "brighter side" since the surgery.

He’s beginning to feel "couped up" and is looking forward to taking a field trip outside the hospital, she said.

"Where would you like to go?" reporters at the news conference asked.

"Home," Harrison replied.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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