The implantation of the 1st total artificial heart is partly a success since there is “no problem with the prosthesis”, said the surgeons. The secret about the patient’s condition remains well kept.
New health check-up for the patient who benefited from the first implantation of the total artificial heart. The doctors who operated on were invited on Friday by their fellow cardiologists to the European Days of the French Society of Cardiology (JESFC). Thirty days after the implantation of the artificial heart Carmat, there is “no problem of prosthesis”, they assured. Professor Christian Latrémouille, who operated on the patient at the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital (HEGP) in Paris, said on Friday: “Today, we have a patient at 30 days old and we are in the process of selecting the following three patients. “. Prof. Latrémouille specified that the trouble-free functioning of the prosthesis was “one of the success criteria for the operation”, adding nevertheless that he could not “go into details on the patient, [étant] held by the ANSM (the drug agency) and the Carmat company ”.
The hope of 5 more years of life expectancy
As Professor Latrémouille reminded Why-Doctor last December: “The intervention lasted about ten hours. We were 16 people in the operating room. This operation was carried out a bit like a heart transplant, but with very specific features linked to this new generation prosthesis, and to the entire technical interface. So we were in partnership with engineers from Carmat. “
The surgeon who implanted the first artificial heart also told Why-Doctor that he hoped to “give back [à ce premier patient] at least five years of life expectancy. Heart transplant patients have an average survival of eight to thirteen years, although we all have patients who have survived more than 20 years ”.
Battery life of 2 hours
For the moment the prosthesis, which could be an alternative to heart transplants, is not yet as practical as a human heart: “At present, (external) batteries have an autonomy of two hours” and the project provides that when the patient “wants to start moving, he wears a battery belt with an autonomy of two hours”, thus indicated Pr Carpentier, the inventor of the artificial heart, who received a long standing ovation from his peers.
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