Brussels hospital in breakthrough artificial heart trial

France’s Carmat, the designer and developer of the world’s most advanced totally artificial heart project, has announced that Brussels’ Saint-Pierre University Hospital has agreed to participate into the first clinical implantations of Carmat’s bioprosthetic artificial heart, reports the Wall Street Journal. “Saint-Pierre University Hospital is a leading teaching and research institution in Belgium. We are extremely honoured by its agreement to be included in the first clinical trial of our breakthrough bioprosthetic artificial heart,” said Carmat CEO Marcello Conviti. Professor Didier de Cannière, chief of cardiovascular surgery at Saint-Pierre, said: “The lack of donors and the stringent requirements to be eligible for heart transplantation leave too many patients without hope for treatment. Carmat’s bioprosthetic artificial heart could definitely fill a gap in the treatment of end-stage heart failure. We are very proud to take part in Carmat’s bioprosthetic artificial heart project, and our team is very excited to start working on the first implantations.” The study protocol and the patient selection process are being finalised and the training of the surgical and medical teams has started. Implantations could begin following the completion of the training. “This is a major milestone for Carmat, its employees, its partners and its shareholders,” Conviti said, “as well as recognition from the international scientific community of the unmet needs our unique project aims to fulfil.”