The boy, who has not been named, underwent a 10 hour operation last week and is still in intensive care but has woken up following the surgery and said to be well and talking.
As he already suffers from a muscle wasting illness called Duchenne syndrome he was ineligible to be placed on the heart transplant waiting list.
The illness causes rapid muscle degeneration and the teenager had been confined to bed and unable to walk and was close to death when surgeons decided to install the artificial heart.
Paediatric cardiac surgeon Dr Antonio Amodeo carried out the operation with an eight strong team at the Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital in Rome last week and details were announced today/yesterday.
Officials said that, unlike previous artificial heart operations, this was not a temporary solution but a permanent one and is expected to give the boy another 20-25 years of “normal life.”
Dr Amodeo said the artificial heart was around 4cm long and had been placed inside the left ventricle and its connection with the ascending aorta.
He said: “The device is an electrically activated hydraulic pump and is entirely located inside the thorax, in order to reduce the risk of infection.
“It is powered through a plug positioned behind the left ear and connected to the battery that the patient holds on a belt and is charged during the night like a mobile phone.
“This is the first time such a device has been placed in a young child and should give him an improved quality of life even though he is suffering from Duchenne syndrome.
“The family were happy for the child to go through the surgery and have the artificial heart implanted as he was in a very bad way and was days away from dying.”
He added that the device weighed little more than 90g – compared to adult ones which can weigh around 1kg and he was expected to remain in intensive care for another two weeks.
Dr Amodeo added: “Despite the length of the operation he woke up fine and when his mother called he said he could not talk as he was brushing his teeth.
“This surgery opens up new horizons as there are many children who need transplants but the number of donors is very small and there are some who like this patient cannot be transplant candidates because of illness.”
He added that the surgery was unique as “up until now it had only been performed on adult patients” and the reduced invasiveness of the device dramatically reduce the risk of infection.
Telegraph UK