Page 539 - Handbook of Biomechatronics

Artificial Hearts 533

Fig. 7 Ventricular assist devices grouped by generation (Brooker, 2012).

through the chest wall. He continued his research until 1958 but did not
publish. The individual who is now recognized as the main pioneer in
the development of artificial hearts is Willem Kolff. After emigrating from
Holland, he joined the Cleveland Clinic as a research assistant, and within
7 years he and Tetsuzo Akutsu were testing primitive artificial hearts in ani-
mals to identify problems that might be encountered if such devices were to
be later implanted in a human patient. Their first success was a hydraulically
driven TAH implanted into a dog which survived for 90min. In collabora-
tion with Thompson Woolridge they also developed a solenoid-driven
heart. Apart from its power supply, this was the first totally implantable
TAH. Unfortunately, it used substantial amounts of power requiring five
solenoids which transferred their force through an oil bath into the elastic
pumping chamber.
In 1963, the first patented artificial heart was developed by Paul
Winchell with help from Henry Heimlich (of Heimlich maneuver fame).