25-year-old Stan Larkin lived with an artificial heart for 555 days before receiving a successful heart transplant.
In 2014, Larkin became the first patient in the state to be discharged from the hospital with a SynCardia--a temporary and external artificial heart which pumps blood around the body.
According to the University of Michigan Health System, the device is used when both sides of the heart fail and common heart-supportive devices are no longer enough to keep the patients alive.
Larkin's brother Dominique also used the same type of device for a few weeks while he waited for the transplant, but Stan had to wait more than a year.
As teenagers, both brothers were diagnosed with familial cardiomyopathy, a genetic type of heart disease that can strike seemingly healthy people without warning, causing cardiac failure.
According to Jonathan Haft, University of Michigan cardiovascular surgeon, both men were very ill when they were admitted to intensive care and the staff decided the device would be the best option to bridge the period before the transplant.
Stan Larkin really tested the device's limits by continuing to play basketball while hooked up to the backpack. He also describe the whole experience as an "emotional rollercoaster,"
Two weeks after her transplant, he said he felt "like I could take a jog."
In 2015, a number of SynCardia Freedom Portable Driver's were called in after the FDA warned that a part of the Freedom Driver drive mechanism may fail which can cause the device to stop pumping.
However, SynCardia already issued a statement saying that "malfunction was caused by an unauthorized rework of a component by a supplier" and immediately replaced the affected units within a week.
Source: RT
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