Beijing Daily Client| Reporter Bai Bo
The HeartCon-type implantable left ventricular assist system developed by Tianjin Economic and Technological Enterprise Aerospace Taixin Technology Co., Ltd. won the third place in the country on July 13 Class medical device product registration certificate, successfully approved for listing. The launch of this purely domestic “Rocket Heart” will promote the progress of surgical treatment of heart failure in my country and benefit the majority of patients with advanced heart failure.
HeartCon implantable left ventricular assist system is an implantable artificial heart with magnetic fluid suspension technology, which is equivalent to an artificially manufactured blood pump. The heart is connected in parallel, undertakes the function of ventricular ejection, pumps blood into the arterial system, and plays a role in partially or completely replacing the work of the heart. Since 2009, Taixin Hospital of Tianjin Binhai New Area has jointly carried out research on the third-generation ventricular assist device with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, hence the name “Rocket Heart”.
“Rocket Heart” is the first third-generation artificial heart to be researched in China. In August 2020, it was approved to enter clinical trials, and it joined eleven well-known hospitals across the country to conduct multi-center clinical trials for the first time. Up to now, “Rocket Heart” is the first ventricular assist product in China that has completed 50 clinical trials according to the clinical trial plan.
Heart failure is the end-stage manifestation of many types of cardiovascular diseases. Data show that there are at least 16 million heart failure patients in my country, of which end-stage heart failure patients account for 5% to 7%. Traditional treatment of end-stage heart failure has poor outcomes and high mortality. With the advent of durable and reliable mechanically assisted circulatory devices, left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), commonly known as “artificial hearts”, have become an effective new treatment for patients with end-stage heart failure.
Liu Xiaocheng, the chief researcher of the project’s clinical trial and president of Taixin Hospital, said that this purely domestic “artificial heart” will bring good news to Chinese patients with severe heart failure and their families.