Anthony Shannon made history on July 30. That’s when he became the first person in the United States to receive a new type of experimental and very high-tech heart-assist device. Called a DuraHeart, it was implanted in his chest, and connected to his failing heart, to help pump his blood and keep him alive.
Shannon, 62, of Livonia is doing well after the operation, which was performed by a team led by surgeon Dr. Francis Pagani at the Cardiovascular Center. Shannon is the former director of homeland security and emergency management for Wayne County and holds a doctorate in public administration.
The DuraHeart, made by Ann Arbor-based Terumo Heart Inc., uses advanced magnetic-levitation (maglev) technology. This approach means that a crucial, constantly revolving part within the hockey puck-sized implanted device never touches the walls of the pumping chamber.
Instead it levitates in the middle, suspended in a magnetic field and pushing blood along. The battery-powered device pushes blood from the heart to the body, taking over most of the function of the left side of a severely weakened heart.
As a result, DuraHeart may cause less damage to blood cells and be less likely to allow dangerous blood clots to form, compared with other heart-assisting devices that use mechanical pumps. It has already been used in 70 patients in Europe, where it received approval for commercial use in 2007 after a clinical trial.
Heart failure patients at U-M and other centers across the U.S. now will have the opportunity to volunteer for a clinical trial of the DuraHeart, which is being co-led by Pagani and by Dr. Yoshifumi Naka, from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. U-M is the national training center for the trial, which is funded by Terumo Heart, and teams from Columbia and the University of Louisville have already traveled to Ann Arbor to learn how to implant the device.
“The DuraHeart gives us a new, third-generation option for patients with advanced heart failure who need help to allow them to survive until they can receive a heart transplant,” says Pagani, who leads the Center for Circulatory Support.
Shannon, whose heart has been weakening for nearly 20 years after a heart attack and clogged arteries damaged part of his heart muscle, is one of 5.3 million Americans with heart failure.
At any given time, as many as 4,000 Americans are on the waiting list for a heart transplant, but only 2,100 people receive new hearts in the U.S. each year because of a shortage of suitable donor organs. Hundreds of people each year die while waiting for a heart.
