This green light, which has just been granted by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (Ansm) to the doctors and engineers of the Carmat company, is a real hope for patients suffering from heart failure. This cardiovascular disorder makes it impossible for the heart to contract enough to send enough blood to supply the whole body. It is not only a disabling disease (the person who suffers from it is constantly short of breath, tired and sometimes has to be hospitalized for) but, in France, each year more than 32,000 deaths are attributable to heart failure.
The authorization to test an artificial heart in 4 patients with severe heart failure is therefore very good news for patients who only have a heart transplant as the only solution for survival.
This artificial heart has been tested in the laboratory for many years, then on calves. It will therefore be placed on the man for the first time in France in the coming weeks. This operation will be carried out on 4 patients who meet the following criteria: end-stage heart failure, no other therapeutic alternative and a life-threatening prognosis. In addition, the 900 g artificial prosthesis remains voluminous: for the moment it can only be adapted to large male thoraxes.
The French hospitals participating in this first phase of the trials are: the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, the Marie-Lannelongue Surgical Center in Plessis-Robinson and the Laënnec-Nord hospital of the Nantes University Hospital.
