French company Carmat was granted a regulatory approval by the European Commission to begin the sales of its Artificial heart named Aeson, in the second quarter of this year. The device is designed to mimic a real heart using biological materials and sensors, and could prove a lifeline for those suffering from deadly heart failure.
After almost 30 years in the making, French company Carmat has developed the artificial heart that received European Commission approval. Heart disease represents the leading cause of death worldwide and with a shortage of donors, this breakthrough presents hope to many of the estimated 2,000+ European patients with the specific condition this artificial heart is intended for: end-stage biventricular heart failure. Unlike similar devices used to keep patients alive until a donor can be identified, the “Carmat” heart is expected to operate continuously for as long as five years while enabling “the recipient to resume a normal lifestyle.”
The cost of the device will be 150,000 Euros, around 181,438.50 USD. FDA approved a feasibility trial in the US — the company hopes to get FDA approval to introduce it to market in the US by 2024.
This is obviously one of the most amazing breakthroughs there have been in a while. The saddest part of it is the fact that it is only an option for the rich which is terrible. I still feel this is the band aid for not addressing the root cause of a lot of heart issues, not all, is nutrition. I know there are things that are genetic and things we can’t help but the majority of issues can be helped with proper nutrition and it saddens me that if the time and money that went into making this, went into educating our youth on the science of food and our bodies, we wouldn’t have an overwhelming demand for artificial hearts.
And also, so many heart diseases could even be reversed with a plant-based diet. Well known surgeon Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn even says pretty much all the surgeries he performs on people’s hearts could have been avoided with a plant-based diet. So he often tries to convince people who don’t do as bad to change their lifestyle before performing a surgery.
