11-gram pump kept Italian boy alive before transplant
(NEWSER) - A 16-month-old Italian baby is alive today thanks to an artificial heart that only weighs about as much as two nickels. Doctors in a Rome hospital used the artificial heart, the world's smallest, to keep the boy alive for 13 days until a heart could be found for a transplant, reports Reuters . The titanium pump weighed just 11 grams, while a normal artificial heart weighs close to 900 grams. The operation was carried out last month, but only made public this week, and the boy has been doing well since. More»
