Artificial heart approved
Bethesda, Maryland (dpa) - The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved implants of the world's first artificial heart, press reports in the US said Wednesday.
The artificial heart, called Abiocor and produced by Massachusetts-based company Abiomed, was tested on 14 patients who lived for an average of five months after receiving the implants.
"This device represents a significant advance in artificial heart technology and holds promise for critically ill heart patients who are not candidates for heart transplants due to age or other medical conditions," Daniel Schultz, director of the FDA's Centre for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement released Wednesday.
The statement said that the device was suited for "people who are not eligible for a heart transplant and who are unlikely to live more than a month without intervention."
"In clinical studies, this product was shown to prolong the life and improve the quality of life for critically ill patients," the statement added.
The device had been rejected by the FDA last year due to the many side effects of the artificial heart. The device merely prolonged the process of dying and did not offer a life worth living, the FDA said at the time.
The initial group of 14 patients have all died, many from severe strokes that significantly reduced their quality of life.
The authorities have now accepted Abiomed's offer to test the device on a further 25 patients at its own cost.
The internal battery of the Abiocor, the world's only artificial heart that can be fully transplanted, lasts for one hour, after which it must be recharged.
It could cost up to 250,000 dollars.
The longest a patient has survived with the Abiocor is 17 months.
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$250,000 to live an extra 5 months? I think I'd rather save my health insurance company a few bucks to keep cost for everyone down. Yeah, I say that now, lol!
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