The longest survival record of 17 months with an artificial heart was by Tom Christerson. On July 2, 2001. AbioCor is the company that produced this artificial heart. The Jarvic-7 heart made by Robert Jarvic in the early attempts in 1980 had the host die within hours or days and there were massive foreign-body rejection problems. There are more than 4,000 American on waiting lists for transplants and there are less than 2,500 donor hearts available yearly. This is the dilemma that fuels companies to attempt to make an artificial heart.
For artificial hearts to be beneficial there needs to be improvements in electronics, battery technology, fuel cells, prosthetics, as well as engineering changes. Having a practical artificial heart may not be a reality until perhaps the 21ST century.
Meanwhile other methods hold more hope in the short term. There are heart helpers being developed which are made to assist the left ventricular of the heart. This is the chamber that pumps oxygenated blood to the body.
Stem Cell research also holds promise since the heart has been proven to be able to repair itself using stem cells.
Artificial hearts, heart helpers and stem cells all are working to solve one of medicine’s elusive goals which is to help these patients who have seriously diseased hearts. In addition, portable oxygen machines, like the Resperonics Ever Go, have also extended the life of cardiac patients.
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