World’s first man to live 100 days with an artificial heart is out of the hospital

An Australian man managed to survive for 100 days without a human heart. In his place, he had a titanium artificial heart implanted, developed by the bioengineering company BiVACOR. He is the first person in the world to be discharged from the hospital with this device implanted in his chest.

BiVACOR was founded by Australian biomedical engineer Daniel Timms, who devised the device after losing his father to heart disease.

The device has only one moving part: a rotor levitated by magnets. It has no valves or mechanical bearings, which reduces the risk of wear and tear. Its function is to pump blood to the lungs and the rest of the body, completely replacing the two ventricles of the heart.

The artificial heart was implanted in November 2024 at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. The patient suffered from advanced heart failure and was awaiting a transplant. In February 2025, he was discharged and lived with the device for more than three months, until finally receiving a donated human heart.

BiVACOR was founded by Australian biomedical engineer Daniel Timms, who devised the device after losing his father to heart disease. His creation could revolutionize medicine: allowing patients with severe heart failure to live autonomously while waiting for a transplant or even as a long-term solution.

The heart that could change the future Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world: more than 18 million people die each year from heart problems, according to the WHO. Advances such as this one could mark a turning point in treatments.

For now, BiVACOR’s artificial heart is still in clinical trials and has not yet been approved for general use. But this patient’s story shows that the future has already begun.