France has implanted its first artificial heart into a patient, reports The Telegraph.
French medics said that a male patient was awake and responding well following Wednesday’s ground-breaking operation at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris.
Marcello Conviti, head of the Carmat biomedical firm, said: ‘We are delighted with this first implant, although it is premature to draw conclusions given that a single implant has been performed and that we are in the early postoperative phase’.
Mr Conviti said the artificial heart, which is three times the weight of a real one, would beat for at least five years.
Heart-assistance devices have frequently been used for patients waiting for transplants, but the new bioprosthetic device will replace the real heart.
It will help thousands of people who are die each year while waiting for a donor, including many in Britain.
Surgeon Alain Carpentier said: ‘It's about giving patients a normal social life with the least dependence on medication as possible.
‘We’ve already seen these types of device of this type but they had a relatively low autonomy. This heart will allow for more movement and less clotting. The study that is starting is being very closely watched in the medical field.’
‘This news brings great pride to France,’ said French health minister .’It shows we are pioneers in healthcare, that we can invent, that we can carry an innovation that will also bring great hope to plenty of people.’
In 2005 surgeons in France performed the first face transplant, and they are always trying to push back research frontiers.
Developed by a team of engineers from Airbus parent company EADS, the artificial heart weighs 2 lb - almost three times as much as an average healthy human heart.
Read more of this report from The Telegraph.