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COPYRIGHT 2004 International Medical News Group
In patients with nonreversible biventricular failure, a newly approved temporary artificial heart may be used as a bridge to transplant, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
These patients, numbering about 100 per year, are among 4,000 U.S. patients who wait for heart transplants every year, the FDA said in a statement announcing the approval of the CardioWest temporary artificial heart in October, for "use as a bridge to transplantation in cardiac transplant-eligible candidates at risk for imminent death from biventricular failure." Described in the statement as a "partial artificial heart," this pneumatic, pulsating biventricular device is implanted and connected to the respective native atria, after the patient's native ventricles are excised. It...
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