Devices & Diagnostics, Hospitals

A man with a totally artificial heart is doing just fine – medical breakthrough?

A 68-year-old man who received an artificial heart at University of Nantes in August, thanks to […]

A 68-year-old man who received an artificial heart at University of Nantes in August, thanks to Carmat, the medical device startup founded in part by Dr. Alain F. Carpentier, is now back at home in recovery.

“It’s incredible, there’s no other word for it,” Carpentier, who invented the device, said in an interview posted on Monday on the website of Le Parisien, a French daily newspaper.

The man had terminal congestive heart failure. The New York Times explained the condition:

In terminal heart failure, the heart is too weak to pump blood efficiently throughout the body, and those with the condition experience shortness of breath even when resting, leaving many people to live out their days confined to their homes. As many as 20 million people have the condition in the United States and Europe. But there are few treatment options beyond heart transplantation, and the supply of organs is woefully short of what is needed.

Carmat’s artificial heart is made of synthetic materials and animal tissue and operates by electric motors and replaces the two lower chambers, or ventricles, of the organ.

Carmat, based in the Paris suburb of Vélizy-Villacoublay, was founded in 2008 to develop a “bioprosthetic total artificial heart.” Dr. Carpentier, a world-renowned expert on valve replacement, and his team are receiving technological help from Airbus Group, the aircraft maker, which has provided financial backing. Other backers include the venture investor Truffle Capital and Bpifrance, a French government innovation fund.

The device is intended to be for people who are ineligible for transplants are have not other possible treatments. Carmat estimates that the device will eventually sell for about $162,000 to $208,000.

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