Artificial Heart Inventions Timeline

Who is considered the father of dialysis?

In which year was the first working artificial heart, the Jarvik-7, successfully implanted in a human patient?

Who invented the first patented artificial heart?

Which scientist is remembered for performing head transplants on dogs?

When was the Liotta-Cooley artificial heart first implanted into a patient?

What inspired Kolff to create a machine to perform the work of the kidneys?

What materials did Kolff use to create his first kidney machine?

How many patients did Kolff successfully treat with his dialyzer before the breakthrough in 1945?

What happened to the 67-year-old woman after undergoing hemodialysis with Kolff's dialyzer?

How long did the 67-year-old woman live after regaining consciousness from the hemodialysis?

Development of Artificial Kidney and Heart

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.

Development of Artificial Heart

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.

Explore the timeline of artificial heart inventions, from the first patent in the 1950s to the successful implantation of the Jarvik-7 in 1982. Learn about early milestones like the first artificial heart implant in a dog by Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov in 1937.