Behind the scenes of Israel’s first artificial heart transplant

Just weeks before war broke out between Israel and Iran, Israel joined an elite list of nations pioneering total artificial heart transplants.

In a landmark procedure, Hadassah University Medical Center successfully implanted a full artificial heart, developed by the French company Carmat, into a male patient in his early 60s suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure.

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The procedure, performed in late May, was closely followed by a second transplant at Sheba Medical Center just four days later. While the two surgeries were not coordinated, both teams had undergone training in France with Carmat experts—underscoring global collaboration in this milestone achievement.

The artificial heart, which costs approximately $600,000, is approved as a bridge-to-transplant solution, giving patients who are not immediately eligible for a donor heart a second chance at life. Israel’s health basket currently covers just five such procedures a year.

“About 20% of patients on Israel’s heart transplant waiting list die before receiving a donor heart,” said Asleh. “The artificial heart can prevent many of those deaths—but cost remains a barrier.”

While the device eliminates the risk of rejection, it introduces new challenges, such as the need to prevent infection at the site where a cable exits the body to connect to an external power source.

“This is about giving hope,” said Asleh. “It’s about teamwork, innovation, and advancing Israeli medicine.”