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Article: FDA APPROVES THE FIRST FULLY IMPLANTABLE ARTIFICIAL HEART
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- September 6, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2006 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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After three decades of research and a difficult three-year human
trial, one of the most complex and expensive devices in medical
history won federal approval yesterday: the first fully implantable
artificial heart.
The AbioCor Implantable Replacement Heart, made by the Danvers
company Abiomed Inc., is a whirring 2-pound pump of plastic and
titanium for patients whose hearts are so weak they can no longer
keep blood flowing to vital organs.
The $250,000 device is not intended to keep patients alive
indefinitely, but rather to extend the lives of dying people too sick
to receive a transplant.