Mount Sinai Surgeons Implant Portable Artificial Heart

When Daquain Jenkins, 29, left The Mount Sinai Hospital last year, he became the first patient in the New York metropolitan area to return home to await a heart transplant with the assistance of a portable artificial heart.

The milestone was remarkable in a number of ways. First, the Total Artificial Heart, manufactured by SynCardia Systems, Inc., in Tucson, Arizona, replaces both failing heart ventricles and four heart valves, eliminating end-stage biventricular failure. It is immediately available to patients, and serves as a bridge while they await a suitable heart donor. In addition, it allows patients to move freely and manage everyday chores while wearing a backpack that stores the 13.5-pound battery-driven device.

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