Page 541 - Handbook of Biomechatronics

Artificial Hearts 535

Fig. 8 Photograph of the Jarvik-7 artificial heart. (Courtesy NIH archives.)

Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of one pump of the Jarvik-7. (Based on Hajar, R., 2005. The
artificial heart, Heart View 8(2):70–76.)

material, developed by David Gernes which helped the blood to clot and
coat the inside of the device, enabling a more natural blood flow. The total
3
weight of the device is about 800g and it required 520cm of space within
the thorax (Jaron, 1990).
A 2-m long external air-line fed compressed air to the chamber where
changes in the pressure flexed the diaphragm cyclically to drive blood flow.
These airlines were attached to the large compressor and control console,
which regulated the pump stroke and dictated the pumping rate.
The Jarvik-7 heart was implanted many times with the longevity record
held by William Schroeder, who was hooked to a Jarvik-7 in 1985. He lived
for 18months with an apparently good quality of life though he did suffer