Patient without a heart transplant
“My guarantee of survival for more than 2,500 days”
12/01/2024 – 8:40 a.mReading time: 3 min.
She suffered a heart attack in 2015 and has now been living with an artificial heart for seven years: The story of heart patient Christine Herkner shows how medical progress enables a relatively normal everyday life.
Nine years ago, the life of Christine Herkner from Hoyerswerda, Saxony, changed in one fell swoop. Without warning, the then 59-year-old suffered a heart attack.
“It was a hot summer day. I had been feeling a bit strange all day, but I didn’t think anything of it. I went to the garden with my son and then it started. I got bad pain and cramps. at that point “I still thought it would go away,” she tells t-online. Her son, Martin Herkner, reacted calmly and called the emergency doctor. In doing so, he saved his mother’s life.
“Up until that day I had always felt healthy. I never went to the doctor, there was no reason,” says Herkner. but then the diagnoses increased: narrowing of the coronary arteries, diabetes mell
Countless hospital stays followed. Herkner had stents inserted, i.e. implants to keep the coronary arteries open. Due to the reduced cardiac output, she also had a defibrillator implanted. But none of these measures brought any improvement. The heart patient was getting progressively worse.
Due to the severe heart failure, doctors speak of heart failure, as a result of the heart attack there was supposedly onyl one way to save her: a heart transplant. But the availability of donor organs is low, so those affected usually wait a long time for a donor heart and many criteria and blood values have to be correct. But Herkner had no time left, her heart was threatening to fail.
An option to a heart transplant are artificial hearts. Experts speak of ventricular heart support systems, which are often implanted in the left ventricle and less often in the right ventricle.
An LVAD is not a replacement for the diseased heart, but rather takes over the work of the left ventricle. The blood flows from the left ventricle into the artificial heart via a plastic tube and into the main artery (aorta) via another plastic tube.
In the past,patients had to wear the associated technology outside of their body and accept major restrictions on their quality of life. Things were diffrent in Herkner’s case in 2017. she received a LAVD of the then current generation from Professor Dirk Fritzsche, chief physician of cardiac surgery and medical director at the Sana Heart Center Cottbus, and his team of cardiotechnicians. The artificial pump with an integrated electric motor and two power lines fits in one hand.
“We were extremely satisfied with the results back then,” remembers the heart surgeon. “The body accepted the artificial heart very well. The patient’s condition improved noticeably. Just a few weeks after the implantation, Herkner was able to make her first attempts at walking together with the physiotherapists. “
Since then, the artificial pump has ensured that the patient’s circulation is maintained. The operation was followed by rehabilitation. The goal was to become fit and mobile again for everyday life.
during the long period of immobility, her muscles had broken down. climbing stairs or taking short walks was unimaginable for the patient. But before he could be discharged home, it had to work. Herkner remembers that she was only allowed to go home when she could climb stairs again.
“Since I live on the first floor and regularly have to climb a few stairs, it was crucial that I was sufficiently resilient.” And that gave her a lot of quality of life back: “I was able to play with my grandchildren again, go for short walks and cope with everyday life quite well. After rehab, I even managed 12,000 steps a day.” That was seven years ago.