India, March 12 -- An Australian man in his 40s from New South Wales has made history as the first person to walk out of a hospital with a total artificial heart implant, after living with the device for more than 100 days.

He is also the sixth person globally to receive the implant, which was used to treat his advanced heart failure.

Before this, five total artificial heart implants had been performed in the United States last year, with each patient receiving a donor heart before being discharged. The longest time between the implant and transplant was 27 days.

The Australian patient underwent the procedure on November 22 at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, in a six-hour operation led by renowned cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon...