Health Issue: Artificail Heart

Artificial  heart to beat for real Clinical Trial Of Device, Made OF Animal & Synthetic Tissue, Set To Begin Next Yr Paris: IT is a long-held dream: an artificial heart to replace one tthat is damaged or diseased. Now, a French company says that it has the technology to make the implantation of it a standard surgical procedure.        Carmat, a medical start-up backed by the European Aeronautic Defense ans Space company, is in the final stages of preclinical testing of its total artificial heart for patients with end-stage heart failure. The company hopes to start human testing in France by the end of next year and to bring rope in 2013, Marcello Conviti, Carmat's chief executive, said.        The device, made of both synthetic and animal tissue, is driven by two miniature electric mototrs. Implanted in the patient's chest after the diseased heart is removed, it uses information gleaned from sensors to mimic the activity of the natural organ. It is operated by a microcontroller and powered by electromagnetic induction through the skin or through a plug implanted behind the patent's ear.         Carmat estimates its device will cost $176,000 to $226,000 When all expenses are considered, including hospital and surgical expenses, it ways it will cost just over $315,000, about the same as a transplant.          the device was developed over 15 years by a team that includes French surgeon-scientist Alain Carpentier. In the November 2009 bulletin of the Academie Nationale de Medecine, Carpentier wrote that, instead of picking up from older models of artificail hearts built on animal research the developers of the new device had sought to use the tools of the digital revolution, namely computer-assisted desigh, hemodynamic modeling, regulation algorithms and simulations.          The French company is not the first to make total artificial hearts, which are meant to completely replace damaged and diseased organs. SynCardia, based in Tucson, currently makes the only approved temporary artificial heart.Its device, powered by a small air compresor that can be carried in a backpack, has been implanted in more than 800 patients as a bridge before transplant.