Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    China
    Home / China / Health

    Smallest artificial heart implanted in young boy

    By Wang Xiaoyu in Beijing and Liu Kun in Wuhan | China Daily | Updated: 2025-04-19 07:55
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    A medical worker from Wuhan Union Hospital compares the size of an artificial heart with a plastic water bottle cap during a news conference on Tuesday. [LIU KUNWEI/FOR CHINA DAILY]

    Chinese doctors have successfully implanted the world's smallest and lightest artificial heart that uses magnetic levitation technology into a 7-year-old boy, giving him more time to wait for a heart transplant.

    Weighing 45 grams and measuring just 2.9 centimeters in diameter, this tiny device is the size of a regular plastic water bottle cap and is about half the weight of the smallest maglev-powered heart pump designed for adults.

    The Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province, said on Tuesday that the boy is now in stable condition and awaiting further treatment, following the operation which was carried out on March 30.

    The boy, from Shandong province, was diagnosed in May with a severe heart muscle disease known as dilated cardiomyopathy that 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 obtaining consent from his family following thorough discussions, Dong Nianguo, chief of cardiovascular surgery at the hospital, and his team decided to implant the small artificial heart to give the boy more time to live and wait for a suitable heart for transplant surgery.

    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.

    "Children should not be simply perceived as adults of a smaller size, they need artificial hearts that are tailored to them," said Dong. He added that the key lies in understanding the unique anatomical and physiological traits of children.

    Dong said that the newly devised heart pump features low energy consumption, prolonged battery life, stability for facilitating emergency patient transfers, precise speed control and adaptable settings to accommodate the circulatory condition.

    The operation took about five hours and the boy regained autonomous breathing on the second day after the surgery was completed. He was transferred into an isolated ward for rehabilitation three days later.

    The boy is the second child to receive the device at the hospital. The first patient, aged 10, underwent an implantation in late 2024 and is now in a stable condition.

    Public data shows that in China, about 40,000 children are hospitalized annually due to heart failure, and 7 to 10 percent of them require urgent heart transplants. Despite this, fewer than 100 pediatric heart transplants are conducted each year nationwide, underscoring the unresolved challenges in pediatric heart failure treatment.

    "Such a micro pump can give children a critical window to restore myocardial function while awaiting a donor heart," said Dong.

    Dong said that his team will continue to perform clinical research to further assess the device's efficacy and safety while exploring and evaluating its range of clinical applications.

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
     
    在线综合亚洲中文精品| 亚洲第一中文字幕| 最近免费中文字幕MV在线视频3| 中文字幕精品视频在线| 久久精品人妻中文系列| 无码国产精品一区二区免费模式| 最近2022中文字幕免费视频| 无码专区一va亚洲v专区在线| 亚洲VA中文字幕无码毛片| а中文在线天堂| 中文字幕人妻丝袜乱一区三区| 粉嫩高中生无码视频在线观看| 精品无码一区二区三区在线| 亚洲最大激情中文字幕| 免费无码黄十八禁网站在线观看 | 无码专区6080yy国产电影| 亚洲国产综合无码一区| 亚洲伊人久久综合中文成人网 | 无码av中文一二三区| 亚洲精品中文字幕乱码三区| 久久精品无码一区二区无码| 亚洲AV综合色区无码一区| 日韩av无码免费播放| 最近最新高清免费中文字幕 | 亚洲伊人久久综合中文成人网| 国产区精品一区二区不卡中文| 午夜成人无码福利免费视频| 日韩欧国产精品一区综合无码| 人妻少妇偷人精品无码| 无码精品日韩中文字幕| 性无码一区二区三区在线观看| 中文精品无码中文字幕无码专区| 免费看成人AA片无码视频羞羞网| 中文字幕1级在线| 精品亚洲成在人线AV无码| 久久久无码精品亚洲日韩蜜臀浪潮| 中文字幕51日韩视频| 亚洲一区爱区精品无码| 亚洲国产成人片在线观看无码 | 天堂а√在线地址中文在线 | 亚洲日韩在线中文字幕综合|