You may have heard of heart transplants, where organs of diseased people are transplanted into living recipients. In many such cases there is a long list of recipients and a very short list of donors. But did you know that instead of waiting for a heart donor, there is another option for heart patients? The alternative is called the ‘Total Artificial Heart’ or TAH. The TAH is a form of mechanical circulatory support in which the patient is supported by a pneumatically powered, artificial heart.
The first TAH to be implanted was the Jarvik 7 in 1982. The Jarvik 7 was an artificial heart made of plastic and metal, named after its designer Robert Jarvik. It was the first TAH which was designed to be implanted as a permanent replacement after the natural heart was removed.
In probably one of the most dramatic surgical procedures that was ever imagined, surgeons at the University of Utah implanted the Jarvik 7 heart into Barney Clark, a 62-year-old dentist, in 1982.
Clark, who was in the final stages of heart failure, agreed to the procedure as an experiment to help medicine and did not expect to survive more than a few days. He however, went on to live for 112 days after the implantation.
With the relative success of the first operation, by the late 1980s, surgeons at 16 centers were using the Jarvik 7 as a bridge to heart transplantation. Today, though the original Jarvik 7 heart is no longer in use, this invention was truly a remarkable feat in the history of medical science.
Picture Credit : Google
