Man with an artificial heart: from fiction to reality By Pr. Wajih MAAZOUZI

Ensuring human survival through replacement therapy undoubtedly represents the most fascinating epic of biomedical science in the last century and likely in the coming decades, both for its technological and therapeutic achievements and for its ethical implications. Narrating this extraordinary effort stages a journey to the extreme, from prevention to the ultimate solution of replacing the failing heart.

Beyond the advanced molecular pharmacological arsenal, beyond exploratory cardiology that probes the organ's most intimate anatomy and function, beyond interventional cardiology that dilates, unblocks, or remodels, and beyond the surgery of transplanting organs, tissues, or cells, limits are eventually reached. These limits then justify the development of temporary or permanent, extracorporeal or implantable assist or replacement devices. Their history, their failures, and their successes challenge the medical community, the scientific community, and public authorities at a time when medical progress does not necessarily equate longevity with quality. Can they also challenge Moroccan research, and can the great multinational ship of artificial heart development one day hope to fly the Moroccan flag?

Pr. Wajih MAAZOUZI

Doctor of Medicine
Professor of Cardiac Surgery