11 The Artificial Heart: Emergence, Progression, and Impact on Society
11 The Artificial Heart: Emergence, Progression, and Impact on Society
Madelyn Bullard
Keywords
- Biomedicine: The intersection of biological research and medicine.
- Heart Disease: heart conditions such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and cardiac arrest that cause vessels to disease, heart muscles to weaken, and blood clots.
- Total Artificial Heart (TAH): An artificial heart that replaces the natural heart. Used to bridge the time to heart transplantation or to permanently replace the heart in which transplant is impossible.
- Ventricular Assist Device: An electromechanical device for assisting cardiac circulation, and is used either to partially or completely replace the function of a failing heart:
- Ventricles: Bottom two main chambers of the heart.
- Atrium: Two upper chambers of the heart.
- Pneumatic Drive Lines: A system that transforms energy from compressed air into rotational movement. Located outside of the body and allows for movement of blood.
- Driver: Control the pump of the artificial heart outside the body.
- Cardiopulmonary Bypass Machine: an external device used to function for the heart and lungs, for only a few hours at a time during surgery.
- Jarvik 7- Artificial Heart: The first authorized bridge to organ transplant operation.
Learning Objectives
- Discuss how the artificial heart works and its significance to the medical field.
- Describe the emergence and progression of the artificial heart.
- Understand the impact the artificial heart had on the Baby Boomer generation.
- List the benefits and limitations of the artificial heart.
11.1 Introduction
It is a popular misconception that technology is a foreign device to the Baby Boomer generation (Huyler, D. D., & Ciocca, D. J., 2016). However, during their prime, the Baby Boomer generation had many major technological advancements across a wide array of fields. One of those fields being biomedicine, which is the intersection of biological research and medicine. After the Cold War, biomedicine came to the forefront of research and public discussion, as there was a new initiative to focus on human health and disease (Jansen, A., & Roesch, C. 2022). There was also a sense of technological and medical competition, and the race to make strides in these fields. This generation witnessed major breakthroughs in biomedical technologies such as: DNA fingerprinting, the portable dialysis machine, controlled drug release technology, and what will be the focus of this chapter: the total artificial heart.
The 20th century was the first century in which heart disease was the most common cause of death in the US (Goldberg & Weinstein, 2014). Heart disease also known as coronary heart disease is a common condition that affects the major vessels of the heart. Heart disease peaked during the 1960’s due to an increase in smoking and unhealthy dietary changes such as the consumption of more processed foods (Goldberg & Weinstein, 2014). The heart is a vital organ for which we c