Dr. Barney Clark and the Jarvik-7The Very first artificial human heart was transplanted in 1982. The term "artificial heart" has often inaccurately been used to describe ventricular assist devices also known as VADs, which are pumps that assist the heart but do not replace it. An artificial heart is also distinct from a cardiopulmonary bypass machine also known as CPB, which is an external device used to provide the functions of both the heart and lungs. CPBs are only used for a few hours at a time, most commonly during heart surgery. Artificial hearts date back to the mid-1950s. Although Dr. Paul Winchell first requested the patent of an artificial heart, it was designed by Robert Jarvik a physician. He called it the Jarvik 7.
In 1982, a Seattle dentist, Dr. Barney Clark, at the age 61, was the first person to receive the heart transplant with the Jarvik 7. An artificial heart is intended to last a lifetime. The surgery was performed by William De Vries, an American surgeon.
"It has been hard, but the heart itself has pumped right along." Quoted the patient Barney Clark.
Creator of the Jarvik-7, Dr. Robert Jarvik is now working on the Jarvik 2000, a thumb-sized heart pump. "This came from the understanding that people want a normal life and just being alive is not good enough." Quoted Dr. Robert Jarvik.
The surgery was performed in Salt Lake City at the Utah Medical Center in 1982. Clark's new heart, known as a Jarvik-7, kept him alive for 112 days after the operation. Surgeons placed the new heart in Clark's chest. But in order for it to work, it had to be constantly supplied with compressed air from a large pump at the patients bedside also the replacing of an organ such as the heart with a human-made copy, is extremely hard. In 1990, officials decided that operations of this type would stop until an improved artificial heart could be developed.
