AbioCor

AbioCor is an artificial heartdeveloped by the Massachusetts-based company AbioMed. It is fully implantable within a patient, due to a combination of advances in miniaturization, biosensors, plasticsand energy transferthat has made this advance possible. The AbioCor runs on a rechargeable source of powerand is being tested in clinical trials in preparation for approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

Testing

As of September 2004, 14 patients have been implanted with the AbioCor heart. Most of these patients have died. For a patient to be eligible for implantation with the AbioCor, the person must have severe heart failure(with failure of both ventricles) and must be likely to die within two weeks without transplantation. The first patient to receive the AbioCor, Robert Tools, was implanted on July 2, 2001. He lived for 151 days before having a fatal cerebrovascular accident. Tom Christerson lived for 512 days after receiving the AbioCor, dying on February 7, 2003.

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbioCor Wikipedia article AbioCor.