www.popsci.com
BiVACOR's creator first began thinking of a metal heart transplant in 2001. Credit: BiVACORShareIt looks like its straight out of a comic book, but BiVACOR is a real, functioning titanium heart. The metal device is ultimately intended as a replacement for human donor organs, but was first utilized last year as a stopgap for hospital patients awaiting transplants. According to its creators and St. Vincents Hospital representatives in Sydney, Australia, the groundbreaking invention recently marked a major milestone: a man survived for over 100 days with his BiVACOR implant, and was even temporarily discharged from the medical facility with it still pumping blood inside him.The titanium devices underlying principles were first envisioned in 2001 by a biomedical engineer named Daniel Timms. Timms, a plumbers son, started by mimicking a human circulatory system using hardware store pipes and valves, but over the next 25 years, developed what would become BiVACOR. The end-result works without any actual valves and relies on a single moving part. This magnetically levitating rotor spins between two chambers while never coming into contact with the titanium frame itself, and thus eliminates the risk of gradual corrosion or malfunctions. The entire device weighs less than 1.5 lbs, and is powered by an external battery located on the abdomen. Its also small enough to fit inside both men and women, as well as children as young as 12 years old. Research also suggests BiVOCAR can support an adult during strenuous exercise.In 2024, doctors in the US and Australia made history by successfully installing the roughly fist-sized pump in a total of five patients. One of them, a man in his 40s dealing with severe heart failure, could only manage to walk a few feet before losing his breath. In the weeks following the six-hour procedure, however, the patient regained enough strength and mobility to leave the hospital until a donor heart became available. He returned to receive his human transplant in early March, and is now recovering, according to a March 12 announcement from St. Vincents Hospital.Heart failure kills almost 5,000 Australians every year. Weve worked towards this moment for years and were enormously proud to have been the first team in Australia to carry out this procedure, Paul Jansz, a heart surgeon involved in the procedure, said in a separate statement.BiVACOR isnt commercially available yet, but four more devices are being readied for use in Australia by the end of 2025. In the future, these titanium hearts may not just serve as temporary tools, but instead offer longterm and perhaps even permanent replacements.
