Clinical experience with cardiac transplantation has evidenced the feasibility of cardiac replacement in man but has made apparent the need for a mechanical device that will provide circulation and sustain life in emergency conditions while a suitable allograft is obtained. The cardiac prosthesis used in a 47 year old man consisted of two reciprocating pumps constructed entirely of synthetic materials and activated pneumatically in the orthotopic position by a control console connected by tubes passed through the patient's chest wall. The device supported the patient's circulation for 64 hours while a donor for cardiac transplantation was obtained. Death of the recipient from Pseudomonas pneumonia occurred 32 hours after the allografting. The first successful prolonged use of a total mechanical substitute for the human heart is recorded.
Artificial OrgansVolume 17, Issue 2 p. 111-122 Report on Artificial Heart Work* S. Harry Norton, S. Harry Norton TRW Inc., Cleveland, OhioSearch for more papers by this author S. Harry Norton, S. Harry Norton TRW Inc., Cleveland, OhioSearch for more papers by this author First published: February 1993 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1594.1993.tb00420.x † *This historical write up is a reprint of a TRW Engineering Report. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume17, Issue2February 1993Pages 111-122 RelatedInformation
any studies [l, 2, 4, 6-81 have been conducted in regard to various methods of mechanically assisted circulation (MAC) M to sustain the life of a patient with circulatory insufficiency caused by heart failure.The aim of MAC is to restore the circulation, thus helping the failing heart to recover.Since the pumping action of assisting devices necessarily must interact with the pumping activity of the failing heart, a rather complicated situation is created.Two fundamental questions have to be answered: (1) How can a normal circulation be restored?(2) What is the effect of MAC on the failing heart?A normal circulation will be obtained when the assisting device restores the physiological relationship of atrial pressure to cardiac output (normal function curve).In this experimental study the output of a pump, placed in parallel with the left side of the heart, was regulated by a system with a variable response to the left atrial pressure, whereby variable function curves can be produced.This system made it possible to supplement any degree of heart failure by adding the output of the pump to that of the failing heart, by which a normal relationship of left atrial pressure to output could be restored.The possibility of designing a simple regulating system on the above basis is presented.Also evaluated in this study is the effect of different degrees of MAC on the heart.
