Heart failure affects over 10 million people in the US and Europe every year and the outlook for patients is often bleak. Medication can only control the condition for so long and most patients require a complete heart transplant. If your heart slowly failing isn’t scary enough, the number of donor hearts that become available each year is tiny compared to the number of people waiting for one. For some patients, their size or blood type means the chances of finding a donor heart are virtually zero.
Attempts have been made to design artificial hearts since the 1950s, with little success.
But a completely new design, known as BiVACOR, could revolutionise the use of artificial hearts and the way heart failure is treated. Instead of trying to replicate the way a real heart pumps, the device uses a single spinning disc to drive blood to the lungs and body. With the high-tech rotary pump levitating between magnets, there’s virtually zero mechanical wear. The lack of other moving parts means the rest of the heart can be made from ultra-robust titanium.
Kenmare Resources plc (LON:KMR) is an established mining company, which operates the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine, located on the north east coast of Mozambique.
