BEACHWOOD -- An artificial heart stolen from Perfusion Solution, Inc. is still at large.

On Jan. 20, the CEO of Perfusion Solution reported the theft of a $20,000 artificial heart and various blood pump parts valued at $10,000.

Beachwood police Det. Mike Nelson said the Perfusion Solution CEO, Thomas S. Weber, said the heart was stolen between Dec. 1 and Jan. 17.

He said Perfusion Solution had moved out of the office, located on the 9th floor of the Commerce Park Square building on Chagrin Boulevard, Jan. 18. The company had stopped doing business at that location around Dec. 1, but had the rent paid up until Jan. 17.

Nelson said anyone could’ve taken the heart, since no one was in the office. He said it weighed approximately two pounds and the majority of it was made of aluminum alloy. Very little of the heart and its blood pump parts were made of titanium.

He said Perfusion Solution vice president Michael Southworth said he thought the heart would have been less than $5 if someone were to compress it and sell it as scrap.

The $20,000 figure for the heart that was in the Beachwood police report referred to the cost of the heart when it was first created as a prototype in conjunction with Cleveland Clinic about 20 years ago.

There were no surveillance tapes of the theft and neither the owners nor Southworth had any suggestions as to who could be considered a suspect.

The heart, which was left in the office on display in the middle of a book shelf, was not insured.

See more Beachwood news at cleveland.com/beachwood

Contact Hampton at (216) 986-5472

fhampton@sunnews.com