Doctors began preparing Mary Lund to be weaned from a respirator Sunday, two days after she received a human heart to replace the artificial heart that kept her alive for 45 days.
Lund was in stable but critical condition, said Dr. Robert Van Tassel, a spokesman for the surgical team from the Minneapolis Heart Institute that performed the operation at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. He had no estimate of what time the weaning from the respirator would be attempted.
The heart she received from a 14-year-old Montana girl who drowned
”continues to work well and beat in a normal rhythm,” he said. ”She is alert, oriented and responds to family and staff.
”She does not show signs of either rejection of the heart or infection at this time,” Van Tassel said. He said earlier that both medical problems were potential hazards for Lund.
Lund, the only woman to be implanted with an artificial heart, received the mini-Jarvik 7 heart Dec. 17 after doctors determined she was near death because of a viral attack that destroyed her own heart`s pumping capacity.
