A Tampa man has made medical history. He’s the fifth person in the world and the first in Florida to receive a new heart pump that’s revolutionizing how people respond to heart transplants.
In November 2022, Jack Dikranian was supposed to be planning his 40th birthday party, but as it turns out, he’d actually be planning for a heart transplant. A decade of heart failure had finally caught up with him.
“For me, it was like, let’s do this, let’s get this new way of life going, let’s put all these problems and struggles behind us, so I was kind of excited,” said Dikranian.
However, soon after the transplant, Dikranian realized his body wasn’t responding like it should have. Instead of getting back to life, he was back in the hospital.
“It was shocking, it was a surprise, next thought was, ‘What are we doing now? What are we doing to help this,’” said Dikranian.
That’s when Dr. Ioana Dumitru, with Tampa General Hospital, told Dikranian about a new heart pump made by Abiomed called the Impella RP Flex.
