Living with an artificial heart: "I couldn't even go down stairs and now I go to rock concerts"

BarcelonaGoing shopping, climbing stairs or even walking were unthinkable activities for Ramon Centelles two years ago. His heart was functioning so poorly that the most everyday tasks were unattainable; he barely left the house and often had to be hospitalized due to the advanced state of the heart failure he was suffering from. Everything changed, however, in December 2024, when he was implanted with a type of artificial heart called a left ventricular assist device, which compensates for the organ's malfunction and allows patients like Ramon to regain their autonomy. "Before, I had no life," this 50-year-old man explains to ARA, who is returning to a normal life while waiting for a definitive heart transplant.

To understand how these devices work, you have to think of a centrifugal pump that is implanted in the left ventricle and helps to pump blood continuously to the rest of the body. The implant requires major surgery, which leaves a cable that comes out from under the ribs. For two years, Ramon has had to always carry a backpack where he carries the pump's control unit, which runs on two external batteries. It has an autonomy of about 17 hours, he has to have weekly care, and he has to shower in parts, since water cannot touch the cable or the backpack, because he could get electrocuted. If he wants to travel, he must ask the hospital for permission beforehand and be very careful with the batteries to always have energy available. "It has limitations, yes, but I can lead a practically normal life. I'm enjoying things again," says this patient, satisfied. Like him, in the last year, Bellvitge Hospital has placed left ventricular assist devices in 11 other people, and it is the hospital center in the State that has performed the most interventions of this type. Daniel Ortiz, head of the hospital's cardiac surgery department, explains that each unit costs about 100,000 euros and that in recent years it has been achieved that the devices are smaller and fully implantable. This improves the quality of life of carrier patients like Ramon, and also his life expectancy. They have had a patient who has been a decade with a device of these characteristics.Postpone the transplant

Not all patients who have been implanted with an artificial heart are waiting for a transplant. This is the case for Juan José González, who due to a genetic mutation suffered from heart failure that progressively weakened his heart until it was functioning at only 14% of its capacity. He lives on a second floor and every day, to leave the house, he had to sit on a step because he was short of breath. He suffered very serious physical deterioration and the last time he was hospitalized he thought he would not come out alive. Since the implantation of the device, his quality of life has changed radically. He has bought a car and adopted a little dog, Chloe, with whom he goes hiking in the mountains. He walks a lot, goes out with friends, and has returned to a Benito Kamelas concert. "I really like rock, but I've seen bands you won't know who they are," he explains jokingly when asked about the last concerts he has attended. Since he is young and feels very well with the machine, in agreement with his cardiologist, he has decided to postpone joining the waiting list for a heart transplant until he is 49 or 50 years old, in order to reserve the limited lifespan of a donor heart for later on.