Surgery: An Implanted Half Heart

Mrs. Louise Ceraso, 63, was not the first patient to have an artificial "half heart" sewn into her chest. But she survived the heroic operation longer than any of her four predecessors, and the very fact that she was still alive at week's end, ten days after her operation, was a significant medical record. More important, she was improving steadily, sitting up and eating well.

The pump implanted in Mrs. Ceraso by Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz and his surgical team at Brooklyn's Maimonides Hospital was similar in shape and design to the first type...

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