Renowned physician Dr. Jahangir Kabir and his team has reached the long awaited success in artificial heart transplant at United Hospital in Gulshan of the capital. He said that the dream of Bangladesh had come true with an artificial heart transplant in the body of a 42-year-old female patient on Thursday (March 3) afternoon.
He told a news conference on the success of artificial heart transplants that heart failure was the leading cause of death in humans. It was our dream to have a heart transplant in the soil of the country to prevent this death. That has been fulfilled today.
Dr. Jahangir Kabir said, “We had many days of effort behind this success. We have tried this for the last 14/15 years. It so happened that all preparations for the heart transplant have been completed but on the appointed day unfortunately the patient died.
He said that the biggest contributor behind this is the patient and his family. They trusted us. No one gives a heart without trust. We have been able to build trust and they have come forward. The patient has been treated in Singapore, Malaysia, and even Turkey. After returning to the country, her heart condition did not improve. We then offered him a heart transplant. The patient and his family agreed.
He further said that this treatment is very expensive and the cost of the machine is around one crore taka. The artificial heart was imported from the United States. There are many costs involved in hospitalization and surgery. In all, it can cost around BDT 10.25 million. We have goodwill. With the cooperation of everyone including the government, we will bring the expenses within the reach of the people.
Specialist doctors involved in artificial heart transplantation were present at the press conference.
Earlier on Wednesday (March 2), a mechanical heart or left ventricular assist device (ELVAD) was placed in the patient’s heart. Dr. Jahangir Kabir and his skilled colleagues successfully operated on a mechanical heart called Heartmate-3 and placed it in the left ventricle of a patient’s heart for about 4 hours. Later the patient’s heart function returns to normal.
At the moment, the only treatment for heart failure in the developed world is to transplant another healthy heart, according to United Hospital authorities. However, if a healthy heart is not available or it is too late to get it, then a mechanical heart is replaced. The patient’s heart gets some rest and the blood circulation of the whole body becomes normal. In addition, other organs in the body such as kidney, liver get healed. Mechanical heart implantation is the only alternative if some patients with acute heart failure are not suitable for a heart transplant. In this way the patient can spend the rest of his life in good health.
Today, more than ten million people worldwide suffer from this complex disease. Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated in Asia from 1.26 percent to 6.7 percent.