They clung to life with artificial heart

Metin İlbay, a 50-year-old architect who has been suffering from chronic heart disease for five years in Izmir, and Hüseyin Karakaş, a 41-year-old artisan living in Kınık, Bergama, were kept alive with artificial heart surgery performed at Dokuz Eylül University (DEÜ) Faculty of Medicine Hospital. İlbay, one of the two patients diagnosed with cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disorder causing heart failure) after complaints such as fatigue and weakness, was implanted with an artificial heart 50 days ago and Karakaş, who had been receiving treatment for two years, was implanted with an artificial heart 22 days ago by a team led by Prof. Dr. Öztekin Oto. Stating that the devices used can last between 6 months and 1 year, Prof. Dr. Oto said that organ transplantation is needed as soon as possible and that they have saved some time thanks to the system that will act as a bridge until a heart is found.

Stating that both the right and left sides of the albin implanted were artificial, Oto said: "When our two patients arrived, they were being treated in intensive care. Their diseases are not genetic. At the beginning, they did not want artificial heart implantation, they waited for a heart to be found, but one day Metin İlbay's heart stopped. Our assistant colleagues revived him by massaging him for hours until the morning. When we arrived, we realised that the brain was still working. We then implanted an artificial heart. We are discharging Metin on his 50th day. He will continue to wait for a heart at home. He can walk, feed, and the wounds around him have healed. In the artificial heart, there may be problems with cables and tools outside the body, there may be infection. In such cases, the tools can also be replaced, but we wish organ donation as soon as possible. Both patients had deteriorated to the point where they could not tolerate a direct heart transplant. Therefore, our artificial heart implantation allowed the tissues to normalise significantly."

İlbay, who is married and has three children, and Karakaş, who has a 14-year-old son, thanked the doctors and all health personnel who kept them alive and said that they were looking forward to the news of organ donation for transplantation.