Science Fact Finder | Health and Medicine - When Was The First Artificial Heart Used?

When was the first artificial heart used?

On December 2, 1982, Barney B. Clark (1921-1983), a 61-year-old retired dentist, became the first human to receive a permanently implanted artificial heart. The heart was known as the Jarvik-7 after its inventor, Robert Jarvik (1946—). The 7.5-hour operation was performed by William DeVries (1943—), a surgeon at the University of Utah Medical Center. Clark died on March 23, 1983, 112 days after the heart implantation.

Another artificial heart recipient, William Schroeder (1923-1986) of Louisville, Kentucky, survived 620 days after implantation (November 25, 1984 to August 7, 1986). On January 11, 1990, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deemed the Jarvik-7 unsafe, eliminating from the market the only artificial heart that had previously been approved by the FDA for use.

Sources: The Guinness Book of Records 1996, p....

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