the artificial heart, the solution to replace grafts?

June 22 is National Organ Donor Day. For the occasion, the Dijon University Hospital offered an information stand to answer questions about donation and transplantation. It is also an opportunity to introduce the public to an artificial heart, which could ultimately replace heart transplants.

Its beats are similar to those of a real heart. On April 10, a Burgundian patient was implanted with a cardiac prosthesis, a first at Dijon University Hospital.

This artificial heart was developed by a French company 30 years ago. “The objective was to have a biocompatible artificial heart, which was not the case before and that posed a problem for treating our patients. The advantage of this heart is that we do not have to will have no coagulation problems, clots inside thanks to its system of biological membranes”explains Professor Olivier Bouchot, cardiovascular surgeon at Dijon University Hospital.

Mechanical hearts did not allow patients to engage in physical activity. This new artificial prosthesis will be a game-changer. “It will be adaptive to the effort. The patient will have an almost independent life at home. He will walk around with a bag and a battery of 4 to 5 hours of power. At night, it turns on the mains so as not to be bothered. When the patient visits us, we collect the information and we will adapt the blood flow, as well as its treatment to enable better functioning of the heart.

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This prototype was only implanted in 23 patients in France. It is therefore still far from replacing the transplantation of real organs. We still need enough donors. In the CHU hall, an information stand has been set up. “25,000 patients are waiting for transplants each year. The most anticipated organ is the kidney, followed by the liver, heart, lung and intestine.summary Sophie Marion, nurse coordinator of organ donation at Dijon University Hospital.

I met a woman who had a transplant six years ago. She told me, “If I didn’t have this gift, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.”

Sophie Marion

Organ donation coordinator nurse at Dijon University Hospital

According to the law, as soon as we reach the age of majority, we officially become donors. There are three ways to object: register on the national register of refusals, talk to your loved ones or write it on a document. “At the national level, we have 37% opposition. I think there are 20% where it is frank opposition from the person. The others are the families who do not know because the subject does not was not discussed. They think that the deceased would not have wanted to donate his organs. People do not discuss the subject, we must talk about it among ourselves.

Every year, 1,000 people die on this list because they were not transplanted in time. To find out more about the subject, go to dondorgans.fr