Artificial Heart Inventions Timeline

Study Notes

In the 1930s, Dr. Willem Kolff, a young Dutch physician, worked in a small ward at the University of Groningen Hospital in the Netherlands.
Kolff witnessed a young man's death from kidney failure, which motivated him to create a machine that could replace kidney function.
During World War II, Kolff was sent to a remote Dutch hospital, where he used available materials like sausage skins, orange juice cans, and a washing machine to create a device that could clear blood of toxins.
In 1943, Kolff completed his invention, a crude dialyzer that could perform hemodialysis.
Between 1943 and 1945, Kolff treated 16 patients with acute kidney failure, but with little success.
In 1945, a 67-year-old woman in uremic coma regained consciousness after 11 hours of hemodialysis with Kolff's dialyzer and lived for seven more years before dying of another ailment.
Dr. Willem Kolff is considered the father of dialysis.

In 1937, Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov implanted an artificial heart into a dog.
In the 1950s, the first artificial heart for humans was invented and patented.
In 1982, the Jarvik-7, a working artificial heart, was successfully implanted in a human patient.
American Paul Winchell, a ventriloquist and comedian, invented the first patented artificial heart in the 1950s, but it was never used.
Henry Heimlich, who developed the eponymous emergency choking treatment, assisted Winchell in his endeavor.
The Liotta-Cooley artificial heart was implanted into a patient in 1969 as a temporary measure, but the patient died soon after.