BWH team performs region's first total artificial heart implant
- In the above photo: Jim Carelli Jr., recipient of New England's first total artificial heart implant, walks on a treadmill.
Brigham and Women's Hospital team performs New England's first total artificial heart implant
6/21/2012
Brigham and Women's Hospital announced today that a team of caregivers performed the first total artificial heart implant in New England for a patient in February 2012. The patient, Jim Carelli Jr., a retired high school teacher and track coach, received the implant as a bridge to a total heart transplant.
The ten-hour procedure was undertaken because Mr. Carelli suffered from amyloidosis of the heart, a severe condition that weakens the heart. The transplant list for a new heart can be as long as nine months, and doctors determined that Mr. Carelli did not have that much time. His condition had also severely affected his kidneys. Since the procedure earlier this year, Mr. Carelli's health has improved and he is on the waiting list for a heart and kidney transplant.
Read more and view video from Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of Partners HealthCare.
See media coverage of this story from The Boston Globe, CBS News, WCVB, and WHDH.
