On October 16th, 2016, the mechanical heart implantation was successfully performed to save the life of Lyudmyla Filarenko. The woman has a 9 years old son. Her diagnosis – dilated cardiomyopathy – left her no chance to live. The operation of mechanical heart implantation was the only possible temporary mean to prolong her life until she can get heart transplant. The patient had a little chance to survive more than one month without the mechanical heart.

The operation was performed by the Heart Institute team under the leadership of the Institute’s General Director, cardiac surgeon Boris Todurov, together with German colleagues – Prof. Christof Schmid, Head of Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Hospital Regensburg, Dr. Ersel Simon, a cardiologist from Berlin Heart clinic, Küther Steffen, a bioengineer from Berlin Heart. The operation took about four hours. Lyudmyla recovers well after surgery and is in active communication with her doctors.

A charity fund “Heart of the palm” (www.serdze.org.ua) rises the finances for the mechanical heart (it is about 120000 euro). The fund appeals to media, internet and different charity events.
It is the second mechanical heart implantation in Ukrane, and both are done in Heart Institute.

First in Ukraine such an operation was performed on the heart of Pavlo Doroshko on July 12th, 2016