The
artificial heart, called the Abio Cor, is of a softball size. It works without any wires, tubes, or hoses sticking out of the patient''s chest.
The Abio Cor has a two-pound pumping unit and electronic controls that adust the pumping speed based on the persons body needs. It is powered by a small
battery pack worn outside the body. There is also a rechareable battery inside the unit. The internal battery cna work on its own for 30 minutes.IF a patient wanted to disconnect the battery pack, the battery inside the AbioCor would take over and work for half an hour.The AbioCor is the only artificial
heart without wires piercing through the skin, reducing the chance of infection. Its remote diagnostics allow the
patients to return home where they can resume normal activities including bathing. The AbioCor is able to pump blood through the body, simulating the rhythm of heartbeat.
Abiomed Inc has recently received Humanitarian Device Exemption
approval from the U.S. food and drug adminstration (FDA) for its AbioCor implantable replacement heart. This landmark approval will provide patients suffering from heart
faliure on both sides of their heart(bi-ventricular) and who have no other alternative, oa viable option for extending the quality of their life.The AbioCor is intended to replace the severly damaged native heart for patients who are not eligible for a transplant and have no other treatment alternative.
The AbioCor sustains the body''s circulatory system and is designed to extend the lives of patients who would otherwise die of heart faliure, while also offering a probable benifit for a satisfactory quality of life. A post market study is planned to allow abiomed to monitor and optimize the introduction of the clinical use.
Jewish hospital in Louisville,KY, an AbioCor clinical trial site, will be among the first U.S. hospitals to offer patients the AbioCor.
Abiomed continues to develop next generation total artifical heart technolology, the AbioCor II, in order to provide life-saving circulatory support to more patients. Currently in preclinical evaluation this technology has the potential to last up to five years and is approx. 30% smaller than AbioCor.
More abstracts about the artificial heart