Artificial Heart Gives New Hope to Patients

The device reproduces the physiology of a normal heart, with two ventricles equipped with micro pumps reproducing the same characteristics seen in a human heart. The pumps allow the blood flow to circulate through the artificial heart, just like in the human body. Valves allow the blood to circulate in one way.

The artificial heart.

(Courtesy CARMAT)

External batteries will power up the artificial heart, allowing the patient to be completely autonomous. The same kind of batteries have been used previously in artificial hearts already developed, notably in the United States, in 2001. The heart will have a life span of five years. By then, it will have beaten 225 million times.

But until the human trials start, some in the medical world remain cautious.

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"This artificial heart is still in its early stage of development and hasn't been tested in humans. Some of the concerns, for example, thrombosis, might not become apparent until human testing occurs," Dr. Abe DeAnda, associate professor of cardiac surgery at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, told ABCNews.com.

This latest device does not quite look like the first artificial heart in history. In December 1982, retired dentist Barney Clark received this first artificial heart. He remained connected to a 400-pound air compressor until he died 112 days after the implantation.

"It's not about putting a machine in a human body, it is about giving patients a life worthy of being lived and a normal social life with the least medico-dependency," Carpentier told France 2 TV Monday.

Today, Carmat is looking for about $100 million in funding to bring the project to completion. And if all goes well, the French artificial heart will be on the market as an alternative to transplant in 2013.