[Totally implantable completely electric artificial heart: "AbioCor"].
The fully implantable complete electric artificial heart "AbioCor" is the ultimate stage in the 3rd generation assistance systems. It has been authorized for clinical use since last year by the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.). It is an electrohydraulic heart developed by Abiomed. It consists of implanted internal components: the cardiac pump, an internal lithium battery, a controller and an internal coil allowing electrical energy transfer across the skin, and external components: an external coil and external batteries. The one-piece heart includes two ventricular chambers: right and left. All of the surfaces in contact with blood as well as the four three-leaved valves are made of polyurethane. An electro-hydraulic energy converter powers the ventricles. A stroke volume of 60 to 65 ml allows an output of between 4 and 10 L.min-1. Between 2 July 2002 and 4 November 2002, seven males, aged between 51 and 70 years, underwent implantation. They were suffering from ischaemic cardiopathy (6 cases) or idiopathic dilated cardiopathy (1 case). Among the late complications, 3 severe embolic cerebrovascular accidents occurred. Four late deaths occurred.
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Service de chirurgie thoracique et cardiovasculaire, Institut de cardiologie La Pitié Salpètrière, Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris, 47 boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris. alain.pavie@psl.ap-hop-paris.fr
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Leprince
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Gandjbakhch
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D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D004560:Electricity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006354:Heart, Artificial; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011474:Prosthesis Design