For the first time, an
artificial heart that may give patients up to five years of extra life has been
successfully implanted in a 75-year-old French man on 18th Dec 2013.
The artificial heart, designed
by French biomedical firm Carmat, is powered by Lithium-ion batteries that can
be worn externally.
The heart that was put into the
patient at Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris uses a range of
"bio-materials", including bovine tissue, to reduce the likelihood of
the body rejecting it. The heart surfaces that come into contact with human
blood are made partly from bovine tissue instead of synthetic materials such as
plastic, which can cause blood clots.
This device is intended to
replace a real heart for as many as five years, unlike previous artificial
hearts that were created mainly for temporary use.
Doctors said the patient who
received the device developed by Dutch-based European Aeronautic Defence and
Space Company (EADS) was awake and responding well after the operation.
The heart weighs as little as
less than a kilogram (900 grams) almost three times as much as an average
healthy human heart.
The device mimics heart muscle
contractions and contains sensors that adapt the blood flow to the patient's
moves.
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