CARMAT: Life with an artificial heart
updated the 6 October 2015 à 23:22
With 23 million people worldwide suffering from heart failure and an incompatible organ supply, this French innovation of an artificial heart could save millions.
If after receiving an artificial heart by the French company CARMAT, a 68-year-old patient prefers to remain anonymous, it’s only so he can go home to live a fully normal life he has so long desired. Five months after the surgery in Nantes, the grandfather of two went home January 19th and can now “pedal like crazy” on a stationery bike, according to the surgeon who invented the device, Dr. Alain F. Carpentier. This is a big step from the first patient, who died 75 days after the surgery.
The doctor described the milestone as “Incredible” especially considering the patient “now walks much better than I do”, in an interview with French daily Le Parisien. With such a great turnout, the device is expected to sell up to 160,000 Euros (SGD248,000), but not before peer reviews and clinical studies are completed. If successfully tested, CARMAT could save tens of thousands of lives.
What is CARMAT?
The device mimics the human heart and is essentially a mechanical pump with an internal control system to regulate the blood flow. It’s powered by batteries, made of prosthetics and animal tissue and weighs around one kilogram. Among the handful of companies trying to innovate an autonomous heart, CARMAT appears to be the most promising.
Source : communiqué de presse 19/01/2015
Maureen Diament and Natasha Gan
