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.
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Posted by:: Muhammad Usman
Source: Dunya news
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