ABOUT THE NEW CARMAT ARTIFICIAL HEART


JUNE 2:

Today I want to write about the new European success story: THE ARTIFICIAL HEART.

The heart is – as we all know – the hardest working and most reliable muscle in our body. It beats day in and day out during our whole life.   Its number of heartbeats is about 100.000 a day – or between 3 and 3 ½ billions beats during a normal life span. Fantastic.

Unfortunately, there are people who now and then have problems with their heart. In Denmark it is about 70.000 a year.  Most of the problems can be solved with medical drugs, cures and/or training.  In more serious cases an operation is necessary.

The newest development is that an artificial heart has now been constructed and used with success in the human body.  It is called CARMAT – named after the French doctor behind it, ALAIN CARPENTIER, and the company constructing it, MATRA DÉFENCE.  It is part of the Airbus consortium.

The project has received economic support from the EU through its funds for research and development – and also received loans from the European Investment Bank.  So, it may certainly be considered as a European success story, where we all work closely together.

A special programme is running at the moment, where it is expected that 20 artificial hearts  have bee put in place in humans by the end of 2020.  Artificial heart no. 13 was mid May put in place by a team at the National Hospital ( Rigshospitalet ) in Copenhagen.  The operation went fully as planned.  The 12 previous operations took place in Prague ( 2 ) and in Kazachstan ( 10 ).  And one of the patients has now been living with the new heart for more than 2 years.

The Carmat heart has a number of characteristics, which are crucial for its success. It is built with bio-compatible material, which means that the body will accept it. It is able to handle the heart beat extremely precisely. And it is self-regulating in the sense that if the body for some reason needs more blood at a certain moment the heart will automatically increase the rhythm.  The Carmat heart is able to pump up to 8 ½ liter blood per minute.

The price for a Carmat heart, including the operation and the treatment afterwards, is between 100.000 and 300.000 dollars.  This is now in the beginning. But it is evident that the price will decrease, when more hearts will be produced and put in place.

The operation itself has to be done by a very professional and experienced team of doctors and other medical staff.

What will a patient then be able to do after the operation?  One of the heart doctors said:  He or she will probably not be able to do a marathon. But an almost normal life should certainly be possible.

Another specialized doctor has recommended to me to read a book about the process about transplant of a heart.  It is written by a sports journalist:  Donald McRae:  Every second counts. The race to transplant the first human heart.

Hopefully, none of us will need such an artificial heart. But it is good to know, that the possibility now exists!

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