Survival for 18 days with a Jarvik-type artificial heart

This is a report of an experiment wherein a calf had its natural heart replaced with an artificial heart and survived for 18 days and 20 hours. All measured physiologic parameters remained normal until the fourteenth day. Thereafter a gradual persistent rise in venous pressure and signs of a decreased cardiac output occurred. However, the animal outwardly appeared normal until the eighteenth day. During the nineteenth day it became comatose and was killed. At autopsy large thrombi were found in both atria, impairing ventricular filling, resulting in venous congestion and diminished cardiac output. This extended survival time and our ability to understand and eliminate the problems associated with artificial heart implantation give support to our hope that artificial hearts for man will be possible in the not too distant future.