CARMAT Bioprosthetic Heart Implanted in First Patient

Last spring we covered the announcement that the CARMAThydraulic artificial heart is about to go to clinical trials. Now word comes our way that a team at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris has successfully implanted the first CARMAT heart in a human patient, and the recipient is awake, conscious, but under close observation in the ICU.

The CARMAT device is meant to be an end-stage solution rather than a bridge implant while the patient waits for a transplant. It is modeled on the real human heart and includes two functional cavities that mimic the motion of the ventricles. A hydraulically driven membrane positioned between the cavities moves back and forth, providing the pressure needed to pump blood through the body.

Here’s more about the CARMAT bioprosthetic heart: