The Mirror Lie of 13.7 Million Heart Failure Patients in China

"I thought I changed a heart, but I changed a way of dying!" A heart failure patient lamented before dying in the ICU.

While 13.7 million heart failure patients in China cannot wait for a donor heart (Report on Cardiovascular Health and Diseases in China 2024), "domestic artificial hearts" have been molded into the ultimate redemption. However, the truth is: All approved products are Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD), not Total Artificial Hearts (TAH) that truly replace the heart; indications are limited to bridge-to-transplant, yet they are advertised as "lifetime replacement"; the incidence of right heart failure is as high as 48%, and the 30-day mortality rate is about 70%, but the data is collectively sealed by companies and capital.

As of the third quarter of 2025, four leading companies have raised a total of approximately RMB 4-5 billion, with valuations expected to reach RMB 20-40 billion, but behind this lies the silence bought with the lives of patients and their families in the ICU.

This dean pointed out: Any crowdfunding in mainland China under the banner of "artificial heart," "permanent replacement," or "domestic breakthrough" is 99% packaging LVAD as TAH, which constitutes serious technical misleading. If the media reports on it, they must clearly write "Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)" and absolutely cannot use "Artificial Heart" (TAH), otherwise they are accomplices.

This is not a medical miracle, but a deadly black box built on concept swapping and data vacuums.

Suzhou Tongxin

They are not selling "Artificial Hearts" at all

The international medical community has never been ambiguous: a true "artificial heart" must be a TAH, completely removing the diseased heart and permanently replacing it with double ventricles. Currently, the cumulative implantation of TAH globally has exceeded 2000 cases, and the 2-year survival rate of the latest generation of Carmat in France is about 70%. This is "changing the heart".

However, the four leading Chinese companies—Suzhou Tongxin, Shenzhen Core Medical, Aerospace Taixin, and Chongqing Yongrenxin—have all approved products that are LVADs: a pump hung on the left ventricle, while the native heart continues to decay, and the right ventricle is still carried by the patient. The NMPA approval document states in black and white: "Implantable Left Ventricular Assist System," and has never approved any TAH.

This is not a battle of semantics, but a matter of life and death.

Chart 1: The Real Money List of Capital Tycoons—Who is Trading Patient Heartbeats for Valuation?

Neil Shen of Sequoia China, Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital, Yin Weidong of Sinovac, Li Guoliang of Yonghua Capital... these top names in China's venture capital circle used RMB 4-5 billion in real money to exchange for the valuation fantasy of RMB 20-40 billion expected for the STAR Market IPO.

Right Heart Failure: The Invisible Noose of LVAD

LVAD forces left ventricular blood into the aorta with a centrifugal pump at 4000-6000 rpm. The left heart is saved, but the right heart is suffocated to death.

Chart 2: China's Right Heart Failure Data Far Exceeds Global Average—A Pit Filled with Patients' Lives

The Warning from the US, China is Replaying It

In 2021, Medtronic permanently discontinued HVAD globally due to a 19% stroke rate and a 10% pump failure fatality rate, leaving 4,000 patients instantly without accessory support.

In 2025, Abbott HeartMate 3 power modules were recalled, affecting thousands of cases, with 70 serious injuries and 2 deaths.

The US has proven with tens of thousands of lives: LVAD is always just a bridge, not a home.

Chinese capital, however, is sprinting down the same path.

Chongqing Yongrenxin

What We Need is Transparency, Not Slogans

China is fully capable of building a world-class artificial heart, but it absolutely cannot rely on concept swapping, hiding data, and letting patients use their lives to test errors.

GFM Calls For:

1. Stop passing off LVAD as TAH
2. Mandatory disclosure of true long-term survival and complication data
3. Write the risk of right heart failure into the first line of the informed consent form
4. Make the NMPA's red line truly electrified
5. Let the money of Sequoia, Hillhouse, and Sinovac be invested in data rather than stories

Otherwise, every LVAD called an "artificial heart" could become the swan song of another family.

The truth is cold, but it saves lives.

Data Sources

NMPA official approval documents, Fuwai Hospital 2024 multi-center update, INTERMACS 2024 report, FDA MAUDE database, company public financing announcements, anonymous interviews with 22 frontline doctors, real patient feedback from WeChat platforms.