It was a breakdown of the artificial heart that caused the circulatory failure of the patient who died on Saturday. The motors failed to ensure sufficient blood circulation.
The motors of the artificial heart have failed. Several days after the death of the second implanted patient, Carmat returns to its causes. It is “a defect of control of the motors” which caused the circulatory insufficiency.
For the second beneficiary of the artificial heart, the adventure lasted nine months. The 69-year-old man died on May 2 at the Nantes University Hospital (Loire-Atlantique). The analysis of the data of the prosthesis revealed a failure of the motors which led to “a decrease in the volume of blood ejected into the body”, specifies Carmat in a press release. But it was the complications that followed the implantation of a second prosthesis that caused the death.
Despite the failure of the engines, Carmat wishes to emphasize the positive nature of this second installation. “The first analyzes after this relatively long period show the biocompatibility of the prosthesis with the body and with the blood. The design fundamentals are therefore confirmed at this stage of the analysis. The data from the second heart will also be invaluable for the third patient, implanted in Paris on April 8.
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