Health patient to move from total artificial heart to transplant

UCSF Health has performed its first heart transplant for a patient with advanced heart failure who had received an artificial heart a few months earlier.

The patient, 37, who lives in the Central Valley, arrived at UCSF in August 2025. The artificial heart was implanted a few weeks later during a six-hour operation at the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights. The patient was discharged in September. Three months later, during an eight-hour procedure, he underwent a heart transplant.

The mechanical heart is designed for patients at end-stage heart failure. It temporarily replaces both heart ventricles, serving as a bridge to keep the patient alive until a transplant can be performed.

UCSF Health, which has one of the largest heart transplant programs in the country, has the only active program in Northern California that implants the fully mechanical heart. To date, UCSF Health has implanted four Total Artificial Hearts (TAH).

Following discharge, the patient continues to recover well and is looking forward to caring for his toddler daughter with his new life and new heart.

His operations were performed by UCSF cardiac surgeon Amy Fiedler, MD, surgical director of the heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support program, and Jason W. Smith, MD, chief of cardiac surgery and lung transplantation.

"We are incredibly proud of our program and our patients," said Fiedler, who in 2022 led what is believed to be the world's first all-female heart transplant at UCSF.

"As an institution, we have been advancing patient care in an innovative and thoughtful manner, especially for the sickest patients suffering from end-stage heart failure," she said. "The creation and success of our Total Artificial Heart program demonstrate the commitment we have to bringing the gift of heart transplant to those who need it most."

UCSF plans to open a clinical trial involving a new type of artificial heart technology: the BiVACOR titanium device last year received FDA "breakthrough" status and is undergoing investigational study prior to full FDA approval.

UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center ranks among the country's top specialty hospitals for adult care, according to U.S. News & World Report, and is best in the San Francisco Metro Area in Cardiology, Heart and Vascular Surgery. UCSF Health excels in numerous complex cardiology procedures and conditions and received the highest rating, High Performing, by U.S. News for aortic valve surgery, as well as specialty care for heart arrhythmias, heart attacks, heart failure, and pacemaker implantation.

Provided by University of California, San Francisco