First test of new French artificial implantable heart

A first patient has been fitted with a new French artificial heart. 

Watch interview on @AJEnglish:  

Heart failure is one of the commonest causes of urgent admission to hospital. Modern drugs – and their effective use in combination - have dramatically improved treatment of heart failure. However in many patients heart failure is a progressive disorder and perhaps 100,000 patients in USA and Europe alone are candidates for a new heart. Conventional organ transplantation is limited by availability of a donor heart, the complexity of immunosuppression and other major risks of the procedure.

The dual ambition of the company behind this new technology is an implantable heart which will both allow return to good quality of life for at least 5 years, and be subject to a lower risk of serious complications then earlier devices.

Implanting an artificial heart while awaiting a heart transplant is not a new idea. The first sustained success was for the Jarvik device, first used over 30 years ago. And current implantable devices have been reported to be successful for almost 4 years.

The new Carmat heart is lined with a combination of synthetic polymers and treated tissues from the heart sac (pericardium) of the cow. This aims to reduce the chance of blood clotting on the internal lining of the heart – an important potential risk from an artificial heart. And partnership with aerospace engineers has lead to new biofeedback sensors in the Carmat device.

If experience over the next year or so of the heart in patients confirms the promise of laboratory studies, patients and health professionals might have access to the new device for clinical use by 2015.

However it will of course take at least until 2020 to confirm whether, in general use, the hoped for 5 year lifespan of the device is confirmed for patients who have severe heart failure.

For the benefit of patients, health services and policy makers, there will need to be serious engagement with the biotech industry to ensure that economies of scale in clinical practice reduce dramatically the current huge cost per device - estimated at 140-180,000 €  ie around $240,000.

Health Policy and Technology launched by FPM and Elsevier

@HealthMed The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine, in partnership with international publisher Elsevier, has launched the first issue of a major new international journal - Health Policy and Technology.

The first issue includes a paper on the pioneering new Centre for Health Technology Assessment of Devices and Diagnostics within the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), and papers on e-health from the USA, India and Europe. 

There is also the first of a series of interviews in print, online and as podcasts, with international leaders in the field of health policy and technology, beginning with Sir Michael Rawlins, Chairman of NICE.

The next policy maker to be featured in this series (June 2012 issue of HPT) will be Professor Gonzalo Calvo, former chair of the European Medicines Agency Cardiovascular Working Party, and Chair of the European Association of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, which represents the national clinical pharmacology societies from the 29 established and accession countries in Europe and their ~4000 clinical pharmacologist members.

Background to new journal and to the FPM.

FPM to launch a new journal on Health Policy and Technology

@HealthMed Health Policy and Technology (HPT), the new official journal of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (FPM), will be launched in March 2012 as a cross-disciplinary journal, which will focus on past, present and future health policy and the role of technology in clinical and non-clinical national and international health environments. HPT will be published by Elsevier, a major international publisher of scientific, technical and medical information

The FPM continues to publish its first international publication, the Postgraduate Medical Journal, launched in 1925. HPT provides a further excellent way for the FPM to continue to make important national and international contributions to development of policy and practice within medicine and related disciplines. The aim of the FPM in establishing this new international journal is to publish relevant, timely and accessible articles and commentaries to support policy-makers, health professionals, health technology providers, patient groups and academia interested in health policy and technology.

Topics covered  by HPT will include
- Health technology, including drug discovery, diagnostics, medicines, devices, therapeutic delivery and eHealth systems
- Cross-national comparisons on health policy using evidence-based approaches
- National studies on health policy to determine the outcomes of technology-driven initiatives
- Cross-border eHealth including health tourism
- The digital divide in mobility, access and affordability of healthcare
- Health technology assessment (HTA) methods and tools for evaluating the effectiveness of clinical and non-clinical health technologies
- Health and eHealth indicators and benchmarks (measure/metrics) for understanding the adoption and diffusion of health technologies
- Health and eHealth models and frameworks to support policy-makers and other stakeholders in decision-making
- Stakeholder engagement with health technologies (clinical and patient/citizen buy-in)
- Regulation and health economics

Professor Wendy Currie will lead the journal as its founding Editor-in-Chief. Her research, consultancy and publications focus on policy-making for large-scale information and communications technology (ICT) projects in health, financial services and government.

The first issue of Health Policy and Technology will focus on Electronic Health Records in the 21st Century, with papers discussing implementation targets for EHRs in healthcare organizations, cross-border policies for EHRs, financial and non-financial costs of introducing EHRs, clinical and patient engagement with EHRs, government policy for EHRs and country comparisons, security and governance practices in relation to EHRs, and the role of EHRs in campaigns to improve citizens' health and reduce health inequalities.

The first issue also includes a paper on the pioneering new Centre for Health Technology Assessment of Devices and Diagnostics within the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). There is also the first of a series of interviews with international leaders in the field of health policy and technology, beginning with Sir Michael Rawlins, Chairman of NICE.

The aim of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (FPM) is to promote international calibre excellence in postgraduate medical education through its publications, clinical and scientific meetings, and other activities.  The FPM is a British medical charity that was founded at the end of World War I, when it pioneered development of post-graduate educational programmes in all branches of medicine.

Its foundation was the result of a merger between the Fellowship of Medicine and the Postgraduate Medical Association, with Sir William Osler the first president of the new organisation. The FPM is supported by Fellows with expertise in the practice of medicine, medical education and publishing, and research in medicine and related disciplines.

HPT website

FPM website

FPM contact email