France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
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Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#2> first implant of an artificial heart that can beat for up to five years
One: I don't think this is the first. Two: the artificial hearts I've heard of don't actually beat; it's more of a constant flow.
Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#3Perhaps this title was initially Reuters' error? Their current headline reads, "France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human".
This sounds like a big first step for this company, though as other commenters have noted, this is certainly not the first artificial heart implanted in a human.
Certainly, if there were a viable long-term replacement that didn't require people to become brain dead so that others could get a heart transplant, that would be a major boon to humanity. And a 5-year bridge, if the hopes for the lifetime of this device pan out, would be a major forward step.
Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#4> first implant of an artificial heart that can beat for up to five years One: I don't think this is the first. Two: the artificial hearts I've heard of don't actually beat ; it's more of a constant flow.
Wikipedia says 1982 was the first. From this article:
"""Heart-assistance devices have been used for decades as a temporary solution for patients awaiting transplants, but Carmat's bioprosthetic product is designed to replace the real heart over the long run, mimicking nature's work using biological materials and sensors."""
edit: the headline is a little confusing, but it's currently phrased "Carmat's first," a company formed specifically to advance the state of the art in synthetic organs.
Wikipedia cites this[0] account of the first transplant:
"""During the 112 days that he survived, he underwent four additional operations, had several episodes of bleeding, and experienced prolonged periods of confusion. He even asked to die on several occasions."""
[0]http://celebrities.healthdiaries.com/the-25th-anniversary-of...
Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#5> first implant of an artificial heart that can beat for up to five years One: I don't think this is the first. Two: the artificial hearts I've heard of don't actually beat ; it's more of a constant flow.
The Jarvic 7/SynCardia temporary CardioWest Total Artificial Hear and Abiocor both seem to simulate a heart beat.
My brief research also suggests they are the most widely used devices (the support support system for the Jarvic 7 is down to 13 pounds!). I'm not familiar with the stuff, I just thought it was an interesting question.
Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#6Perhaps this title was initially Reuters' error? Their current headline reads, " France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human ". This sounds like a big first step for this company, though as other commenters have noted, this is certainly not the first artificial heart implanted in a human. Certainly, if there were a viable long-term replacement that didn't require people to become brain dead so that o…
I suggest checking out the short video "Flatline" on Vimeo. I can't link to it from my phone but it's worth a watch.
Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#7let's hope this doesn't go the way french breast implants went in the not too distant past!
Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#8> first implant of an artificial heart that can beat for up to five years One: I don't think this is the first. Two: the artificial hearts I've heard of don't actually beat ; it's more of a constant flow.
Reading their website (http://www.carmatsa.com/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&vi...), as near as I can tell, they're basically claiming to be "closest yet" to a real heart, including "auto-regulation", which I think means they're saying it can beat faster or slower as you need more or less bloodflow.
The scariest thing is that they also boast a significant increase in battery life ... to 12 hours. Jesus, I get angry when my cell phone dies after 12 hours.
Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#9I was incredibly excited by this, but the article mentions that another company, SynCardia already has a thousand of these devices deployed into Production.
Re: France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human
#10let's hope this doesn't go the way french breast implants went in the not too distant past!
On that note, it's important to set your expectations correctly on new medical technology. Early heart transplants were considered a success if the patient survived surgery long enough to wake up; it took a lot of work to go from that to many-year survivals.
I'm rooting for whoever got the first one of these off the line, but if he throws a clot and dies next week, keep in mind this shit is hard. Hopefully they'll work out any problems that develop, iterate on the product, and by the time most of us need one of these, they'll have 20-, 30-, 40-year survivals under their belts.