Artificial hearts are taking a big step forward, thanks to France. In what it calls a world-first, French biotech company Carmat says it’s successfully implanted its artificial heart in a patient at Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris.
The procedure, which Carmat says went smoothly, is a major first step towards figuring how feasible artificial hearts are for patients in the long-term. As for the patent himself, Carmat says he’s awake and is talking with his family.
Modeled after the human heart, Carmat’s device includes a pair of cavities split by a flexible, hydraulics-controlled membrane. Motorized pumps push blood and a special “actioning” fluid from one side of the heart to the other, mimicking the movements of heart contractions.