Chinese doctors implant world's smallest, lightest artificial heart into boy

The boy, from Shandong province, was diagnosed with a severe heart muscle disease known as dilated cardiomyopathy in May and quickly progressed to end-stage heart failure that can only be addressed with a real heart transplant.

Upon arrival at the hospital in Wuhan last month to seek treatment, the boy began exhibiting breathing difficulties and was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation — an oxygen delivery machine also known as ECMO — on March 19 as an emergency measure. However, immediate heart transplantation was improbable due to his rare blood type and limited availability of donor hearts.

After thorough communication with his family and obtaining their consent, Dong Nianguo, chief of cardiovascular surgery at the hospital, and his team decided to implant the small artificial heart to afford the boy more time.

The development of the artificial heart stemmed from a research program initiated by the hospital and an innovative medical equipment company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 2021. The hospital has also partnered with nearly 20 domestic and foreign medical institutions to carry out clinical research.