5-year-old survives surgery with help from groundbreaking artificial heart

A five-year-old girl who became the world's first recipient of a dual-chamber artificial heart with fully magnetically levitated pumps has been discharged from a hospital in China after making a full recovery.

Doctors at TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital (TICH) in Tianjin held a small celebration on Wednesday as the child, known as Xiaoni, left the ward. Staff wished her a healthy future after a medical journey they described as "extraordinary".

Xiaoni weighed just 12.2 kilograms when she was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy. Her heart measured only around 24 millimeters, and its chambers could not expand properly, leaving her in biventricular failure. The severity of her condition and her tiny size made the implantation of an artificial heart exceptionally challenging.

A team led by Professor Liu Xiaocheng at TICH, working with specialists from Nanjing Children's Hospital, first implanted the device to stabilize her condition. She later underwent a heart transplant.

The combined treatment not only saved her life but also set a new global record for the lowest body weight of a patient to receive this type of dual-chamber artificial heart with fully magnetically levitated pumps, according to the hospital.