A national award for an end-to-end surgical system
On 8 July 2026, China announced the 2025 National Science & Technology Progress Awards. The project “Establishment and Application of Key Surgical Technologies for Severe Heart Failure,” led by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences’ Fuwai Hospital with Shenzhen CoreMed Medical Technology and other partners as core participants, received a second-class award. The hospital describes the work as a comprehensive surgical system for end-stage heart failure — spanning patient selection, peri-operative decision-making, surgical technique and long-term management — together with a domestically designed third-generation left ventricular assist device.
The device at the centre of the award
Heart failure is the common end-stage of many cardiovascular diseases. Acute decompensation carries a mortality of roughly 70% and five-year survival of about 20%, leaving a large clinical gap that transplants and mechanical pumps are meant to fill. The project’s device, the Corheart 6, is a fully magnetically levitated implantable left ventricular assist device. According to public coverage, its design uses a single set of stator coils to control both the rotation and the levitation of the rotor, allowing a simpler, lighter and smaller pump with lower power consumption. The hospital and partner report a smaller surgical incision, lower heat-related thrombosis risk and broader patient eligibility, with cumulative domestic implants exceeding 1,300 by April 2026 and a market share above 45% by implant count in 2024.
A national second-class award is a domestic peer-reviewed recognition of the project’s combined clinical and technological contribution, including the surgical system and the device. It is not a head-to-head clinical trial against other LVADs, and the published reports so far do not provide a direct comparison of long-term survival, stroke or device-thrombosis rates between Corheart 6 and internationally established continuous-flow LVADs. The implant and market-share numbers reflect real-world use in China, not international regulatory approval.
What is still unknown
The available coverage does not give patient-level outcomes (survival, stroke, pump thrombosis, quality of life) for the full implant cohort, nor does it compare the Corheart 6 to internationally approved LVADs. Long-term durability beyond the reported follow-up and outcomes in patients with smaller body sizes (a common scenario for Asian patients) are not detailed in the announcement. Cost, insurance coverage and waiting times for Chinese patients are not discussed.
What this may mean for patients
For adults with end-stage heart failure who are not transplant candidates, the project signals a wider, domestically available surgical option in China, including for patients with smaller body sizes where international LVADs may be a poor fit. The award supports the credibility of the Fuwai surgical system but is not a guarantee of outcome for any individual; treatment choice, device selection and timing still depend on a heart-failure team’s full assessment. International patients considering evaluation at Fuwai should treat the project as context, not as a substitute for an in-person assessment.
Relevance to advanced heart failure care
End-stage heart failure and the use of mechanical circulatory support sit in Wellward China’s Heart & Circulation health area. Advanced surgical care for this group of patients is concentrated in a small number of high-volume centres, of which Fuwai is one.