LISBON, March 10 (Xinhua) -- A patient in Portugal with heart failure received on Thursday at Lisbon's Santa Cruz Hospital an artificial heart, three days after the same kind of operation was carried out for the first time in the country, according to Portuguese Lusa News Agency on Friday.
"This is an internal circulatory assist device. Contrary to what we have used until today, which are external assist devices, these have the great advantage of, on one hand, giving the patient more freedom and on the other, not having the same complications that external devices have," Surgeon Miguel Abecassis said.
The surgery took around three hours and a half and the main difficulty was the correction of coagulation alterations, he said.
The country's first artificial heart implant took place on Monday and was carried out by surgeon Jose Fragata.
"This surgery intervention confirms the scientific progress and the excellence of the work of a team which is part of the national health service," Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said in an official statement.
The world's first artificial transplant took place in France in 2013, and was successful. Artificial hearts are devices that are powered by an external battery and mimic heart muscle contractions. Editor: Mu Xuequan