PRAGUE, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Jakub Halik, the first man to survive a surgery replacing his heart with two mechanical blood pumps for more than half a year, died on Saturday from liver failure, the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine head physician Jan Pirk said here on Wednesday.
Halik, 37, was suffering from a heart tumor, and a Czech medical team led by Pirk performed for him the breakthrough surgery in the Prague-based IKEM on April 3. Doctors planted two synchronized pumps in him to replace the heart before he could find a suitable donor for a heart transplant surgery.
"The pumps got well adapted to the patient's body, there was no infection, everything looked perfect. This was not the cause (of the death)," Pirk said.
"We don't know why. The answer to the question of what has happened to his liver will be available in about three weeks, after a detailed analysis," the doctor said.
A similar surgery was conducted by a heart surgeons in Texas, United States, but the patient died seven days later.
Pirk is expected to lecture on the unique operation in Germany in December.
|
