Battery-Powered Hearts are Coming This Year

The phrase “Have a heart” might take on a literal meaning, once a French company starts selling its “most advanced artificial hearts” in the second quarter of this year.

Carmat, a France-based producer of Total Artificial Hearts (TAH), intends selling their product just after June, marking the first time in history that a fully mechanical heart would be sold across EU-approved, regulated markets.

The technology is battery-powered, weighs just under a kilogram – three times more than the average human heart – and will cost more than $180 000.

The TAHs are in higher demand than ever before due to the shortage of donors, giving hope to patients with various heart-related problems – especially those conditions where a heart is unable to pump blood correctly.

CEO Stephane Piat explained: “The idea behind this heart, which was born nearly 30 years ago, was to create a device which would replace heart transplants, a device that works physiologically like a human heart, one that’s pulsating, self-regulated and compatible with blood.”

Although not a permanent solution – TAHs have an average lifespan of five years and allow patient mobility for four hours a day – it still provides some hope to patients who often wait over six months for a donor organ to become available.

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