

France's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human - bnegreve
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/20/carmat-implant-idUSL6N0JZ3SF20131220?feedType=RSS&virtualBrandChannel=11563

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carbocation
Perhaps this title was initially Reuters' error? Their current headline reads,
" _France 's Carmat implants its first artificial heart in human_".

This sounds like a big first step for this company, though as other commenters
have noted, this is certainly not the first artificial heart implanted in a
human.

Certainly, if there were a viable long-term replacement that didn't _require
people to become brain dead_ so that others could get a heart transplant, that
would be a major boon to humanity. And a 5-year bridge, if the hopes for the
lifetime of this device pan out, would be a major forward step.

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ryanSrich
I suggest checking out the short video "Flatline" on Vimeo. I can't link to it
from my phone but it's worth a watch.

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msthomaa
Really worth a watch: [http://vimeo.com/46912551](http://vimeo.com/46912551)

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gaius
I was incredibly excited by this, but the article mentions that another
company, SynCardia already has a thousand of these devices deployed into
Production.

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webreac
It seems it is the first device to really deserve the term "artificial heart".
Before, it was blood pump.

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elwell
> first implant of an artificial heart that can beat for up to five years

One: I don't think this is the first. Two: the artificial hearts I've heard of
don't actually _beat_ ; it's more of a constant flow.

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saalweachter
Reading their website
([http://www.carmatsa.com/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&vi...](http://www.carmatsa.com/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&view=items&cid=33&id=371&Itemid=63&lang=en)),
as near as I can tell, they're basically claiming to be "closest yet" to a
real heart, including "auto-regulation", which I _think_ means they're saying
it can beat faster or slower as you need more or less bloodflow.

The scariest thing is that they also boast a significant increase in battery
life ... to 12 hours. Jesus, I get angry when my _cell phone_ dies after 12
hours.

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ye
Shows how amazing evolution is at "designing" complex efficient systems. Our
hearts beat for 70-100+ years without a charge.

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Stratego
Don't know about you, but my heart needs a charge every six hours and it goes
in hibernation mode every 12 hours.

Can I upgrade to yours? :-)

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ye
If your heart stops beating for 12 hours, maybe you need to talk to your
doctor.

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lsv1
Why does it need to pump or emulate a real heart? Could one not create the
same in a much smaller form factor with lower power usage?

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lostlogin
Are you asking if pulsation flow is needed? Other systems depend on the
pulsation nature of our circulatory system. I'm no expert, but off the top of
my head CSF flow and bowel peristalsis depend on pulsation blood flow to a
degree (or so I was taught, ages ago). I'm sure there are others who are more
knowledgeable here though.

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kamakazizuru
let's hope this doesn't go the way french breast implants went in the not too
distant past!

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saalweachter
On that note, it's important to set your expectations correctly on new medical
technology. Early heart transplants were considered a success if the patient
survived surgery long enough to wake up; it took a lot of work to go from that
to many-year survivals.

I'm rooting for whoever got the first one of these off the line, but if he
throws a clot and dies next week, keep in mind this shit is hard. Hopefully
they'll work out any problems that develop, iterate on the product, and by the
time most of us need one of these, they'll have 20-, 30-, 40-year survivals
under their belts.

