HERSHEY — The first American patient to receive the Arrow LionHeart, a Penn State-designed electronic blood pump, is recovering smoothly, his doctors said yesterday.

Staff members at the Hershey Medical Center were respecting the patient's wish for privacy, but they said he is a man who has suffered from heart failure for more than ten years.

Before the operation, the man was unable to even walk across a room without suffering shortness of breath, said John Boehmer, the man's cardiologist.

"He told me this morning he is breathing and breathing comfortably," Boehmer said yesterday. "And this is new for him."

It took almost five hours to install the LionHeart in the man Wednesday, said Walter Pae Jr., the lead surgeon in the operation.

The Food and Drug Administration first approved the LionHeart for testing in the U.S. last month. Since 1999, doctors have already implanted the LionHeart in ten people in Europe.

Hershey was chosen as the sight for the first operation because of its involvement in designing the heart pump.

During testing, doctors plan to install the pump in seven people in the United States. Hershey could be the sight of up to five of those installations.

The LionHeart is designed to be a permanent solution for people who otherwise would die from heart disease and are ineligible for a heart transplant because of some other medical condition.

Patients chosen to receive the pump are close to death and suffering from a low quality of life as a result of their heart conditions. They also must have a positive attitude about trying the new device.

Penn State, the Hershey Medical Center and Arrow paid for the first LionHeart installation.

Eventually, Arrow expects the devices will cost about $100,000 each when they become more widely available. The price for the device could end up being far less than the costs of caring for a patient with end-stage heart failure.

The LionHeart is the product of decades of research at the Hershey Medical Center and the Penn State University Park campus.

The university entered into a partnership with Arrow International, Inc., a biotechnology company in Reading, to manufacture and market the device.

The device is the first heart assist pump that runs without wires or hoses passing through the skin. It gets power from both an internal battery and an external battery pack about the size of a pocketbook.

Patients can also power the LionHeart by connecting to a car cigarette lighter. If technology improves as the patients grow older, the internal batteries can be upgraded with a simple operation.

A model on display at a medical center press conference yesterday made a mechanical pumping sound, but Pae said that noise is muffled once inside the body.

The ten patients in Europe who have had the pump installed became accustomed to the weight and sounds, Pae said.

"After a period of time, they get very much used to it," Pae said.

The patient's family released a short statement thanking the doctors and everyone involved in creating the device.

"We ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery," the family said.