Miracle in Bristol: Device called Berlin Heart keeps baby alive awaiting transplant

From the UK comes the story of a baby called Macs, who seemed poised for final-stage heart failure but has been saved by a device called a Berlin Heart.

A seemingly normal baby, Macs Green suddenly suffered two cardiac arrests and was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease which can lead to heart failure.

From his hospital bed at Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital where he was on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, doctors told his parents Dylan and Catrin to prepare for an end-of-life scenario.

Then it became clear that Macs could receive a Berlin Heart, the only device of its kind available for babies and children with severe heart failure. The ventricular assist device (VAD) takes over pumping of the heart while the patient awaits a transplant.

Manufactured in Berlin, the device has changed pediatric cardiology dramatically. It comes in two formats — INCOR and EXCOR — with the former supporting left ventricular flow and the latter providing comprehensive heart support. The first European patient received the device in 1990, and the first American in 2000.”It means he can come off the drugs which have been sedating him. Since then, he’s a completely different baby,” Dylan said of his third son after receiving the Berlin Heart.”He’s smiling, he’s responding to us.

Before now, he’s just been a small baby lying on a bed.”His wife Catrin agreed, saying since the operation it has been “like having our baby back,” and that Macs was “absolutely thriving.”It is unclear how long Macs will have to wait for a heart transplant. It may take years, but the Berlin Heart has proved it is up to the challenge — in 2012, a toddler set a record living with the EXCOR for 2.5 years, and by 2014, 1,500 Berlin Hearts had been fitted in children and infants.