First plastic heart beat for three days

The Smithsonian Institution has millions of products in its vaults that many never get to see. The Smithsonian released a photograph of the first plastic heart earlier this month, honoring Valentine’s Day. For 3 24 hour days and nights, the plastic heart beat before being swapped out. This kind of medical engineering no doubt took a huge personal loan to produce.

Background of the plastic heart that beat for 3 days and nights

In 1969, the first ever plastic heart was implanted in a human being. The plastic heart was developed by Dr. Domingo Liotta and implanted by Dr. Denton A. Cooley. Without approval, the plastic heart was taken out of Dr. Liotta's lab by Dr. Cooley and implanted. A human transplant heart was found after the plastic heart beat for three days in the patient. A trend started with the plastic heart. This was after the patient passed away, even with the human heart. Pictures of the plastic heart were unveiled on St. Valentine's Day by the Smithsonian Institution which is where it now resides.

Development through the years of plastic hearts

The plastic heart implant was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 after the first "plastic" heart got implanted in 1969. The first viable plastic heart transplant that beat for a long time was evolved in 1982. It was called the Jarvick-7. The plastic heart that was approved in 2004 is used as a temporary replacement until a human heart could be found for transplant. In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration approved a permanent plastic heart transplant, the AbioCor Implantable Replacement Heart. Currently, plastic hearts can only be supported with 13-pound devices carried in a backpack and costs $18,000 a year to maintain.

Is it feasible to create a self-contained heart?

There is nevertheless a dream for a plastic heart. The dream started in 1969 though. Though plastic hearts that keep an individual alive are now accessible, they require maintenance and heavy equipment to be kept very close. Between the three-day plastic heart and the 13 pound backpack heart, there were 30 years. That means that it might be decades before a self-contained heart is created even though researchers are working on it.

Information from

News Desk

newsdesk.si.edu/snapshot/liotta-cooley-artificial-heart

New York Times

nytimes.com/2007/11/27/health/27docs.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=denton%20cooley&st=cse

American Heart Association

americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4444