Artificial heart ready for human trials by 2011

by Sanjay Jha | October 27, 2008 at 09:35 pm

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In a great scientific discovery which will benefit millions of people all over the world, Heart specialists have been able to create the artificial heart. The first entirely artificial heart should be ready for human trials 'within two and a half years'. The prosthetic replacement would be fully implantable and could solve the worldwide shortage of donor hearts – estimated at 20,000 each year. Several teams around the world are racing to develop a total artificial organ able to permanently replace the human heart.

French cardiac specialist Alain Carpentier said his prototype artificial heart - which is shaped like a human organ and pumps blood in the same rhythm - would be ready for clinical trials and commercial production by 2011.

The device, which uses electronic sensors to control the heart rate and blood flow, was developed with the help of the engineering expertise from the European aerospace group Eads.

It uses chemically enhanced animal tissue to decrease the risk of rejection by the patient's immune system, the major obstacle in artificial heart transplants.

"We are moving from pure research to clinical applications. After 15 years of work, we are handing over to industry to produce an artificial heart usable by man," Carpentier said yesterday as the device was unveiled.