On December 2, 1982, a 61-year-old dentist from Utah made medical history, as he became the first person to receive an artificial heart. Dr. Barney Clark would live 112 days with the Jarvik 7 heart implanted in his chest. Dr. William DeVries at the University of Utah Medical Center choose the procedure because Clark's failing health made him ineligible to receive a donated human heart.While Barney Clark was able to survive nearly four months, he was confined to his hospital bed because tubes from the Jarvik 7 were connected to an air-driven pump by way of tubes through Clark's chest. The tubes were a constant source of infections for Clark, who also suffered several strokes.
The Jarvik 7
- Invented in 1970 by Dr. Robert Jarvik
- Constructed of glass-fibre and polyurethane
- Used compressed air to pump the blood through the body.
- William Schroeder survived the longest with the Jarvik 7: 20 months
Future Developments
On July 2, 2001, doctors at the University of Louisville implanted the first battery-operated artificial – the AbioCor Implantable Replacement Heart – into Robert Tools. The 59-year-old was the first of five patients taking part in a clinical trial of the experimental artificial heart, which fits completely inside the body.
