First artificial heart successfully implanted into a British man

Matthew Green, a father-of-one, was preparing to return home today after becoming the first person in the country to receive an entirely artificial heart until he can have a transplant.Matthew was dying from end-stage failure of both ventricles of his heart until he underwent the six-hour operation to implant the temporary organ, which can last for up to three years, at the Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, eastern England.He said, I am really excited about going home and just being able to do the everyday things that I havent been able to do for such a long time, such as playing in the garden with my son and cooking a meal for my family.Greens new temporary heart will serve the role of both ventricles and heart valves and will provide a blood flow of up to 9.5 liters, eliminating the symptoms and effects of severe heart failure.Steven Tsui, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and director of the transplant service, said, The operation went extremely well and Matthew has made an excellent recovery,I expect him to go home very soon, being able to do a lot more than before the operation with a vastly improved quality of life, until we can find a suitable donor heart for him to have a heart transplant, he added.