A man who was fitted with the first artificial heart two and half
months ago has died.
PARIS (AFP) - A septuagenarian man who was fitted with the French
biomedical firm Carmat s first artificial heart two and half months ago has
died, a hospital statement said Monday.
"Seventy-five days after the implant of the first Carmat
artificial heart bioprosthesis in a 76-year-old man with a terminal heart
disease, the patient died on March 2, 2014," the Georges-Pompidou European
Hospital said.
Artificial hearts have already been in use for many years as a
temporary fix for patients with chronic heart problems.
The Carmat product aims to provide a longer-term solution to bridge
the wait for a donor heart and enable hospitalised patients to return home and
maybe even resume work.
The hospital statement said the causes of death "will not be
known until after a thorough analysis of the abundant medical and technical
data that has been recorded".
The artificial heart, a self-contained unit implanted in the
patient s chest, uses soft "biomaterials" and an array of
sensors to mimic the contractions of the heart.
The patient had received his artificial heart on December 18, in a
world first performed after the French government gave its green light to the
operation in September.
The surgeons who carried out the ground-breaking operation and
subsequently monitored the patient s progress were keen to "stress
the significance of the initial findings drawn" from the experiment, the
hospital s statement said.
They paid homage to the patient, who was "fully aware of what
was at stake and -- with his trust, courage and will -- made a memorable
contribution to the medical battle against a growing disease."
Nearly 100,000 people in Europe and the United States are in need
of a heart transplant, according to Carmat.
A US rival to Carmat, an artificial heart called AbioCor, is
authorised in the United States for patients with end-stage heart failure or
life expectancy of less than 30 days, who are not eligible for a natural heart
transplant and have no other viable treatment options.
.
Posted by:: Muhammad Usman
Source: Dunya news
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