IJN Plans More Heart Device Implants

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- The National Heart Institute (IJN) said Tuesday it planned to implant in more heart disease patients the mechanical heart assist device that it had implanted on a boy last Saturday.
IJN Chief Executive Officer Mohd Radzif Mohd Yunus said the implants would give "an extension of life" to patients suffering from end-stage heart disease while waiting for donor hearts.
Last Saturday, Muhammad Fikri Nor Azmi, 15, who is suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy -- a heart disease that can lead to heart failure, was fitted with the device during a six-hour surgery.
The teenager's clinical condition had been deteriorating and the mechanical heart device implant was deemed necessary to improve his cardiac output.
The surgery was performed by a team of cardiothoracic surgeons led by IJN Chief Cardiothoracic Surgeon Datuk Dr Mohd Azhari Yakub. Others in the team included cardiothoracic surgeons Dr Mohamed Ezani Md Taib, Dr Pau Kiew Kong and Dr Mohd Nazeri Nordin and anaesthetists Datuk Dr Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Ariff, Dr Sharifah Suraya Syed Mohd Tahir and Dr N. Thiru Kumar.
Mohd Radzif said the IJN, in enhancing its capabilities to provide better service to heart patients, planned to undertake another clinical research study.
"It will establish another clinical research study for our research and development (R&D) programme which, hopefully, will later be used as a benchmark by other heart centres in the region when they start their mechanical heart assist programme," he said.
With a RM5-million grant provided by the National Economic Action Council to the Health Ministry, the IJN had acquired three units of the implantable ventricle assist device (IVAD) system which cost RM180,000 per unit, he said.
"Of the RM5-million grant, we have utilised close to RM2.7 million for the training and acquisition of the system," he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Mohd Azhari said the IVAD system was designed to provide short- and long-term heart support for patients whose heart was too ill, damaged or diseased to provide adequate blood flow for the body.
He explained that the system was implanted in the patient's abdomen, where a pocket was created in the abdominal wall, and connected to the left side of the heart.
"It is mainly for `bridge for transplantation' for patients," he said.
The system was also used for circulatory support in-patients after major heart surgery, he said, adding that this allowed the heart to rest and recover.
On Mohammad Fikri's condition, Mohd Azhari said the teenager was doing well and had begun to talk and had walked a bit.
"The critical phase is over, I hope that a suitable organ is found for him soon so that we can conduct a transplant," he said.
Meanwhile, IJN Chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Khatib Abdul Hamid said the IVAD system only supported the life of a patient (while waiting to get a real heart donor) and it was not a permanent replacement of a true heart.
"It is only capable of supporting a patient for a one year plus. That's why we are hoping to get a donor heart for the patient soon," he said.
As for IJN, Mohamed Khatib said, the management would continue running an aggressive campaign nationwide to create awareness on the importance of heart donations.
So far, he said, eight people aged 15 to 53 were waiting to get real hearts.
The heart assist device programme at IJN, which was established in 2002, is part of IJN's commitment towards organ donation, especially heart transplant.
As of June this year, IJN had recorded a total of 1,119,544 outpatient attendance and treated a total number of 125,748 inpatients. Up till now, the institute had performed 73,442 interventional invasive cardiology procedures and 33,469 surgeries, which include 17 heart transplants.