LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A recipient of a self-contained artificial heart died of multiple organ failure, one day short of celebrating his 80th birthday, his surgeons said Friday.
Keith Blakeley received the AbioCor device in a six-hour surgery Jan. 7 and lived 101 days with the implant pumping inside his chest. He died Thursday at Jewish Hospital in Louisville.
One of Blakeley's daughters, Patsy Petit, said her father made steady progress until suffering a relapse weeks ago. He never bounced back completely from the setback, which was unrelated to the artificial heart, Petit said.
"The heart was working beautifully," she said.
Blakeley was among the oldest, if not the oldest, of the 10 recipients of the mechanical heart, said Ed Berger, a vice president with Abiomed Inc. of Danvers, Mass., the maker of the device.
Blakeley's death leaves only one living AbioCor recipient - a patient who underwent the surgery Feb. 24 at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston. That patient's name has not been released.
