The Region : Jarvik-7 Patient Gets Heart Transplant

An Escondido man who earlier this month became the first patient in California to receive a Jarvik-7 mechanical heart was given a new human heart in a transplant at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego. Officials called the operation “very successful.” Randy Dunlap, 34, was listed in critical condition after the six-hour surgical procedure, but hospital spokeswoman Cindy Cohagen said, “all signs are optimistic. This is really a medical marvel. The Jarvik worked flawlessly for 12 days. It saved Randy’s life. It made it possible for him to live while we searched for a new human heart.” On June 15, Dunlap received a human heart transplant designed to relieve his familial cardiomyopathy, a chronic degenerative heart condition that is often inherited. When the human heart began to falter for unknown reasons, doctors were forced to turn to the Jarvik-7, an experimental device used as a temporary bridge until a human heart can be obtained for transplant patients.