Mike Herrmann woke up from heart surgery in 2024 and felt like he could climb a building. The 64-year-old Cleves resident had just become the fourth person in the world to receive the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart, a mechanical device that kept him alive at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati while he waited for a donor organ.
Herrmann had been battling end-stage heart failure when doctors enrolled him in an FDA-approved clinical trial for the device, according to WLWT. The implantation was performed in Cincinnati, and the Christ Hospital Health Network said it marked the fourth human implantation of the BiVACOR heart worldwide, completed on November 15, 2024, according to a Christ Hospital Health Network press release. Cardiothoracic surgeons Rob Dowling and Geoff Answini performed the procedure, per the same release.
Nearly two years later, Herrmann says he has never felt better. “A day after the surgery I could have climbed the building,” he said, describing his recovery. He also described the sound of the artificial heart inside his chest as “like a little motor climbing up a hill.”
A Bridge, Not a Permanent Fix
The BiVACOR heart was never meant to be permanent for Herrmann. It gave him time to get off the heart transplant list, and weeks after receiving the device, he underwent a transplant with a donor heart. The device itself uses a single magnetically levitated rotor that pumps blood to both the body and lungs, the hospital’s press release notes…