From TheBestLinks.com
AbioCor is an artificial heart developed by the Massachusetts-based company Abiomed. Unlike previous attempts at a mechanical heart, the AbioCor is fully implantable within a patient. A combination of advances in miniaturization, biosensors, plastics and energy transfer have made this advance possible. The AbioCor runs on a rechargeable source of power and is currently being tested in clinical trials.
As of September 2004, 14 patients have been implanted with the AbioCor heart. Unfortunately, most of these patients have passed away, though the cause of death was usually not the artificial heart. For a patient to even be eligible for implantation with the AbioCor heart, the person must have severe heart failure (with failure of both ventricles) and must be likely to die within two weeks without transplantation. Many patients who have received the AbioCor heart have lived for more than 60 days after implantation, with one patient still alive after 120 days. The first patient to receive the AbioCor heart lived for 151 days before having a fatal cerebrovascular accident. Although still considered experimental, the AbioCor is likely to be submitted for FDA approval very soon.
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