Health Highlights: Jan. 19, 2015

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Artificial Heart Recipient Heads Home

A 68-year-old French man with terminal congestive heart failure has headed home after receiving a completely artificial heart, the French company that makes the device said Monday.

As reported by The New York Times, the man was implanted with the artificial heart at the University of Nantes hospital on Aug. 5, and was discharged from the hospital with a portable power and alert system that allows him freedom to move about.

The man — who wishes to remain anonymous — “is living a completely normal life now,” Dr. Alain Carpentier, the French surgeon who invented the artificial heart, told the Le Parisien newspaper. He said the man is even “pedaling like crazy” on a stationary bike.

According to the Times, a total artificial heart would replace the heart’s two lower chambers, or ventricles. The new device, made by the French company Carmat, is composed of both synthetic materials and animal tissues. It was first implanted in a 76-year-old man in December 2013. That patient lived 74 days with the device, the Times said.

Carmat plans to sell the device to people who are deemed ineligible for traditional heart transplants and have no other possible therapy available to them. The device costs between $162,000 to $208,000, the Times said.

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