In July 2001, a group of surgeons from Louisville, Kentucky managed to implant a new-generation artificial heart in a patient. Dubbed AbioCor, the device was implanted in a man who suffered from heart failure. The artificial heart was developed by Abiomed, Inc., a company with headquarters in Danvers, MA.
Although artificial hearts have been used in humans before, AvioCor proved to be more technically advanced than all of its predecessors. It is worth mentioning that previous artificial hearts required the user to be connected to a huge console through tubes and electrical power lines that passed through the person’s skin. This meant that the patient had to be bedridden.
AbioCor is completely self-contained inside the body, having no tubes or lines running through the skin. Thus patients are not tied to a console, which means that they can perform routine functions. AbioCor has its battery located in an external battery pack that the patient can wear on the belt. Read more about the device here.
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