First UK Man With Part Of His Heart - In His Rucksack

Matthew Green, 40, a pharmaceutical consultant from London, will be the first Briton to be discharged from hospital with a completely artificial heart.

But the one thing he really mustn't forget before he leaves hospital is his rucksack, in which he will be carrying part of his new heart.

The device in his chest is slightly larger than the organ it replaces and weighs less than six ounces. It delivers blood to the body with the help of a pump that is carried in the rucksack, along with a battery.

Around 900 of the 'bridge-to-transplant' devices have been fitted around the world, although Green is the first to receive one in the UK.

Green, who lives with wife Gill and their 5-year-old son Dylan, was diagnosed with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that can cause arrhythmia, heart failure, and sudden death.

With his health deteriorating fast and no suitable donors could be found, doctors at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire decided to fit him with the device in a 100,000 pounds operation on June 9.

Now, seven weeks on, the patient said he felt 'fantastic' as he spoke about the new lease of life he has been given.

"I felt so ill before, so now to be feeling so well and full of life is great. I feel very lucky," the Daily Mail quoted Green as saying.

"It feels very different - before the operation my heart beat was very weak and I could hardly feel my pulse. Now it's a very strong heart beat," he added.

Papworth is the 66th hospital in the world and the first in the UK to be allowed to use the SynCardia artificial heart.

The device that costs around 20,000 pounds a year to maintain, was developed by U.S. firm SynCardia Systems, which is based in Arizona.

Source: ANI