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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the 10 days since the first self-contained artificial heart was implanted here, the device's manufacturer, Abiomed, and officials of Jewish Hospital have severely restricted news about the recipient's progress, in a policy that is drawing harsh criticism from leading medical ethicists. Abiomed's policy stands in sharp contrast to the way public information was handled in experiments with the Jarvik-7 artificial heart during the 1980s, when reporters were regularly given detailed information about recipients. Surgeons prepare the AbioCor artificial heart for implant in the world's first recipient of the self-contained artificial device. JOHN LAIR/ASSOCIATED PRESS

On Monday, the man was taken back to the operating room for a 30- minute procedure to drain bloody fluid that had accumulated around the AbioCor artificial heart. The bleeding was attributed to the anti-coagulant drugs he was receiving to prevent formation of blood clots in the artificial heart, said his doctors, Laman A. Gray Jr. and Robert D. Dowling. For nine hours last week, the man spoke with his family after the doctors removed from his windpipe a breathing tube that was connected to a ventilator. But he had to be reconnected to the ventilator because of fatigue

An unidentified diabetic man in his 50's became the first human to live with a self-contained artificial heart

The first recipient of a self-contained artificial heart was alert and doing well, said Dr. Laman H. Gray Jr., one of his surgeons in Louisville, Ky. ''He looks good,'' Dr

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The man who is living with the first fully implantable artificial heart talked with his family Wednesday night during a brief period when a breathing tube in his windpipe was removedand he was disconnected from a mechanical ventilator, his doctors said Thursday. The doctors had to reconnect the man to a ventilator after about nine hours because he became so fatigued while breathing on his own. The ventilator was reconnected about 11 p.m. Wednesday. Reconnecting the man to the ventilator was not unexpected, because patients with heart failure may need ventilator support for short intervals during recovery from major surgery, a hospital spokeswoman said

The surgeons strongly cautioned that the procedure is an experiment in which a complication can occur at any time because of the patient's severe illness and the complexity of the AbioCor artificial heart they implanted. But they expressed optimism that their patient, identified only as a man in his 50s, would be able to return to daily activities. He might even eventually be eligible for a heart transplant, they said. At a news conference Wednesday, the surgeons described the patient as a diabetic man in his mid- to late 50s who was terminally ill with heart failure and who was in 'dire' condition before the implant operation. Another medical center outside the Louisville area had rejected the man as a candidate for a heart transplant because he had significant kidney failure and abnormally high pressure in blood vessels in his lungs, the surgeons said. Before the operation, the man's lungs had been drowning from pulmonary edema, a buildup of fluid that occurs in heart failure, said the surgeons, Dr. Laman Gray and Dr. Robert Dowling, who are from the University of Louisville. By Wednesday morning, the artificial heart, which has been beating about 120 times a minute since the operation, had virtually cleared the fluid from his lungs. They said they were surprised that the problem had been resolved so quickly

The surgeons strongly cautioned that the procedure was an experiment in which a complication could occur at any time because of the patient's severe illness and the complexity of the AbioCor artificial heart that they implanted. But they expressed optimism that their patient, identified only as a man in his 50s, would be able to return to daily activities. He might even eventually be eligible for a heart transplant, they said. Before the operation, the man's lungs had been drowning from pulmonary edema, a build-up of fluid that occurs in heart failure, said the surgeons, Dr. Laman A. Gray and Dr. Robert D. Dowling, who are from the University of Louisville. By yesterday morning, the artificial heart, which has been beating about 120 times a minute since the operation, had virtually cleared the fluid from his lungs. They said they were surprised that this problem had been resolved so quickly

The new, totally implantable artificial heart, called the AbioCor, is made by Abiomed of Danvers, Mass. It is battery powered and has no wires or tubes leading outside the body. After the Louisville team, headed by Dr. Laman Gray and Dr. Robert Dowling, removed most of the patient's diseased heart, they attached the Abiomed device to remnants of the two upper chambers, the left and right atria, and to the aorta, the main artery to the body. The operation was one the surgeons had practiced many times on animals, as the FDA had required of any surgical team that participated in the experiment. Among the 700,000 Americans who die from heart failure each year, an estimated 125,000 would be candidates for an implanted artificial heart, [David Lederman] said. Although heart transplants are extending the lives of many patients, there are 4,231 people on the transplant list in the United States, and only about 2,000 hearts become available in a year, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates transplants. Those who do not receive transplants usually die waiting

[Jonathan Reiner] said he had been explicit in telling [Dick Cheney], 60, that \'this procedure and this device would not in any way impair his ability\' to perform his duties. That was significant, because Friday, announcing at the White House that he would receive the implant, Cheney said that his continued service as vice president was in the hands of his doctors. Assuming that Cheney\'s disease proves manageable for the next three years, the big political decision for [Bush] would come in 2004, when he would have to decide whether Cheney should once again be his running mate. But by that time, Cheney may not be needed to establish maturity and credibility for Bush, as he did last year. 3 PICS; 1. Dick Cheney left the hospital after having pacemaker and defibrilator implanted. 2. Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, left the George Washington Hospital yesterday after Cheney had a pacemaker implanted near his heart. (A-12) 3. A doctor yesterday held a \'Medtronic Gem III DR\' double-action pacemaker like the one Vice President Cheney had implanted. (A-12); Credit: 2,3. Joe Marquette / Associated Press photos

At a news conference Wednesday, the surgeons described the patient as a diabetic man in his mid- to late 50s who was terminally ill with heart failure and who was in 'dire' condition before the implant operation. Another medical center outside the Louisville area had rejected him as a candidate for a heart transplant because he had significant kidney failure and abnormally high pressure in blood vessels in his lungs, the surgeons said