|  | Surgeries Operations | Operations

About Artificial Hearts

Today the idea of actually being able to beam someone from one place to another in the blink of an eye seems like something that will forever exist only in the future inhabited by Star Trek. It is worth noting, however, that a mere 50 or 60 years ago the idea of implanting an artificial heart into the chest of a person was also the stuff of science fiction, heavy on the fiction and light on the science. The invention of the artificial heart is without question one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in the history of mankind even if for the moment most patients do not live very long.

  1. The First

    • The very first artificial heart was actually invented in 1957. The inventor was the same man who had already invented the artificial kidney, Willem Kolff. Working with Kolff was Tetsuzo Akutsu, who implanted the artificial heart into a dog. When the dog was able to stay alive for almost two days after the operation, the medical world began scrambling to do research into this potential life-saving device.

    Problems

    • During the early stages of artificial heart research and development, several problems arose that scientists knew would have to be overcome. When blood came into contact with the artificial materials it would become damaged. The body's immune system would often reject the artificial heart. There was also some difficulty in being able to power the pump as well and make sure the pump responded adequately to changes in the patient's stress levels.

    Domingo Liotta

    • Domingo Liotta invented the first artificial heart to be implanted into a human being. In 1969 a man named Haskell Karp underwent the revolutionary procedure under the hand of Dr. Denton Cooley and proceeded to live for 65 hours. Artificial heart pioneer Michael DeBakey claimed that the heart Cooley had used was identical to the heart he'd been developing and that it was unquestionably not ready for implantation into human beings.

    Robert Jarvik

    • In 1972 Robert Jarvik began working in association with Willem Kolff to design an artificial heart. In 1979 he patented the Jarvik-7, an artificial heart that could fit inside the chest, but was powered by a rather large air compressor. In December 1982 Barney Clark became the first person to be implanted with the Jarvik-7. Clark lived an astonishing 112 days with Jarvik's heart beating inside his chest.

    Backlash

    • A backlash against the entire artificial heart development program developed as a result of questions about the poor quality of life endured by those who had received the devices. In addition, the exorbitant cost made the idea of receiving an artificial heart unlikely for most people. Growing in popularity was the idea that it would be better to have a device that could just keep people alive until a donor heart became available for transplant.

    LVAD

    • LVAD stands for left ventricular assist device and these are devices used to keep heart patients alive while waiting for a donor heart. These devices are much smaller than the artificial heart devices, sometimes just one-tenth the size. In addition to being smaller LVADs also require much less power than the bigger heart devices.

Operations - Related Articles