We live in a society where human health is increasingly enhanced by artificial augmentation and implantation including hip replacements and hearing aids. French company Carmat have been working for 15 years on the artificial heart, a device that completely replaces the human heart in people with end stage heart disease and a life expectancy of less than two weeks without the surgery.
They’ve recently announced their second trial, commencing in 2017 with the aim to achieve European approval for their device. The Carmat device differs to other robotic heart devices as it is meant to be used in cases of terminal heart failure, instead of being used as a bridge device while the patient awaits a transplant.
