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Total artificial hearts: past, present, and future

Nature Reviews Cardiology volume 12, pages 609–617 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

A practical artificial heart has been sought for >50 years. An increasing number of people succumb to heart disease each year, but the number of hearts available for transplantation remains small. Early total artificial hearts mimicked the pumping action of the native heart. These positive-displacement pumps could provide adequate haemodynamic support and maintain the human circulation for short periods, but large size and limited durability adversely affected recipients' quality of life. Subsequent research into left ventricular assist devices led to the use of continuous-flow blood pumps with rotating impellers. Researchers have attempted to integrate this technology into modern total artificial hearts with moderate clinical success. The importance of pulsatile circulation remains unclear. Future research is, therefore, needed into positive-displacement and rotary total artificial hearts.

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Figure 1: Three early TAHs.
Figure 2: Sarns-3M positive-displacement total artificial heart (3M Health Care, USA, and Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA).
Figure 3: Nimbus positive-displacement total artificial heart (Nimbus, USA, and Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA).
Figure 4: AbioCor® positive-displacement total artificial heart (ABIOMED, USA).
Figure 5: Transition of positive-displacement pumps to rotary blood pumps (left ventricular assist devices).
Figure 6: The future of total artificial heart technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiovascular Surgical Research Laboratory and the Center for Cardiac Support, Texas Heart Institute, MC 2-114A, PO Box 20345, Houston, 77225, TX, USA

    William E. Cohn, Daniel L. Timms & O. H. Frazier

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  1. William E. Cohn
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Contributions

W.E.C. and D.L.T. researched data for the article. All the authors discussed the content of the article, wrote the manuscript, and reviewed drafts before submission.

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Correspondence to William E. Cohn.

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D.L.T. is the founder of BiVACOR, Inc. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Cohn, W., Timms, D. & Frazier, O. Total artificial hearts: past, present, and future. Nat Rev Cardiol 12, 609–617 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2015.79

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