LA REPUBBLICA (Italy)
ROME – Doctors of the Bambino Gesù Hospital announced that they have successfully transplanted what is believed to be the lightest-ever artificial heart, La Repubblica reports.
The titanium heart, weighing 11 grams (0.39 ounces), was transplanted in a 16-month baby last month. The average adult heart weighs 300 grams.H
The baby is doing well now, thanks to the American-made device, which had to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as the Italian Ministry of Health before being used.
The operation was the only way that the child could survive, as he suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy or DCM.
The child’s new heart weighs the same as five one-cent coins.
Read the original story in Italian
