A three-month survival of a calf with an artificial heart

An artificial heart constructed from Biomer, a polyurethane, kept a calf alive for more than three months after its natural heart was removed. During this time all of the calf's vital organs apparently functioned well. We had been able to keep similar animals alive with Jarvik III hearts made from Silastic for one month. The principal problem encountered was the infection centering along the compressed air drive lines to the artificial heart. Another problem is thrombus formation in the artificial heart. Redesigning of the artificial ventricles to improve flow patterns and reduce material discontinuities should be attempted to eliminate localized thrombus formation within the ventricles. The rapid growth of the calf has led us to examine the possibility of alternative animal models for future long-term experiments. The most encouraging aspects of this experiment were the long survival time of the calf and the very low level of blood damage caused by the artificial heart.