Fikri finds his heart

NST: A young Malaysian has given two people a new lease of life. The man suffered head injuries after an incident on Thursday and was declared brain dead. His organs, save his cornea, were harvested for transplant.
Malaysia’s mechanical heart boy has got a new heart and a chance at a longer life.
Muhammad Fikri Nor Azmi underwent a 10-hour heart transplant surgery at the National Heart Institute yesterday.
The institute declined to comment on the transplant but the New Sunday Times understands that he is in a stable condition.
It is learnt that a team of 30 medical personnel was involved in the operation. It is also understood that the donor was a young boy who was declared brain-dead.
Fikri was diagnosed with dilated cardio-myopathy, a heart disease which can lead to heart failure, when he was an infant and his heart started showing signs of deterioration only early this year.
He was put on the organ donor waiting list in March but doctors at the institute found that a delay would severely strain his heart, leading to the failure of other organs.
In July, he became the first person in Asia to be fitted with a mechanical heart. But doctors made it clear that the Implantable Ventricular Assist Device (IVAD), or mechanical heart, was only a temporary measure.
In recent months, he has encountered several complications. The latest required surgery to replace a faulty air-compressor line of the mechanical heart.
The IVAD helps the heart by taking over most of its functions.
Connected to the heart, it reduces the strain on the organ.
Patients in the United States and Europe have been known to survive for a little more than a year after being implanted with the IVAD, which costs RM100,000.