AbioCor Implantable Replacement Heart
People on the heart transplant waiting list with biventricular heart failure now have an alternative - the AbioCor Implantable Replacement Heart. Previous artificial hearts have kept patients hospital-bound but this ABIOMED AbioCor artificial heart has made it possible for some recipients walk short distances and even go on a fishing trip.
The AbioCor is powered by a belt-mounted power pack that transmits energy to the device through the skin. It can be plugged into an electrical outlet to recharge. A battery implanted in the patient’s belly can let the patient bathe and walk freely for short stretches, although some patients who received the trial artificial heart were so ill they never walked.
The $250,000 medical device probably won’t be see many takers, though, it’s not approved for widespread use and is limited to 4000 sales a year. Surgical complications still exist, including strokes as a result of clots that form around parts of the artificial heart. Still, the FDA has agreed that patients who have no other alternatives should have the option of having an AbioCor heart implanted.
The first hospital to offer the AbioCor artificial heart will be Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky that has already performed seven such operations. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey have also applied.
The Boston Globe, September 6, 2006
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