![]() ![]() Next-generation technologies that surely were rooted in the artificial heart, such as left-ventricular assist devices (LVADs), continue to save lives. ![]() The ethical debates on use of the device have been replaced by new hot-button subjects, such as embryonic stem cells. Old collaborations have broken down, while others have strengthened. In the years that have passed, many things have changed. "He wanted to help others who would come later. And in the hours leading up to the surgery, he didn't waver, his widow, UnaLoy Farrer, says now. He'd signed the 11-page consent form once, then again a day later. Mark's Hospital on 800 South and 300 West to see the animals that walked on treadmills, artificial hearts pumping in their bovine chests. He'd talked to numerous doctors, had intimate conversations with family members about their feelings, even visited the barns at the old St. Out of options, Clark had done his homework. Without the mechanical heart, Clark would die - a situation and requirement that was not negotiable for either the U.'s Institutional Review Board or the FDA when it came to implanting an unproven experimental device in a human. Fernando proved that the mechanical heart could be a bridge to transplant - that the transplanted heart would grow with him. He died 22 months later, not of complications from the hearts but from blood vessel problems caused by the repeated insertion of catheters to monitor his condition. One, Fernando, had three hearts, living 44 days on the Jarvik-7 before bridging to a transplant from his twin. He was to be the first human recipient of a heart that had been used countless times in sheep and cows with funny names like "Tennyson" and "Abebe" and "Ted E. It was hoped that with time that support would become more portable than the washer-size machine that powered his heart. He was also well-versed in the medical realities, aware that he would for his lifetime be tethered to mechanical out-of-body support by two, six-foot lines. "Gosh, I wonder if this is going to make the local papers tomorrow," he remembers wondering.Įven in decline, Clark was a large man, about 200 pounds and over 6 feet tall, blessed with a chest that could accommodate what was a large, multichamber device. He flew in during a mammoth snowstorm and went straight to the U., where he was also on the faculty, to watch the operation. He was willing to try," Anderson says.Īnderson was out of town when Clark's heart began the decline that would speed up the timeline for the historic surgery. He realized that with a first one, a lot can go wrong. was planning to implant someone they were looking for the right candidate.Īnderson told DeVries about Clark, a man he recalls as "sophisticated medically and willing to be a guinea pig." Anderson sent Clark to see DeVries, and Clark's journey into history began. They chatted about the U's artificial heart program. fieldhouse, where he and DeVries had each been working out. That worked for a couple of years, then Clark began to fail rapidly.Ībout that time, Anderson had what he now calls a "key encounter in a hot tub" at the U. So Anderson managed his heart disease with medical therapy and clinical trials, "the latest and greatest at the time," he says today. He was over 60 and had other medical problems. Initially, Clark was not a candidate for a human heart transplant. LDS was just starting up a heart transplant program. He consulted a young doctor at LDS Hospital, Jeffrey Anderson, now associate chief of cardiology at Intermountain Medical Center. He'd married UnaLoy Mason and they had three grown children, Stephen, Gary and Karen. Many of the biggest names in heart repair - mechanical and medicinal - will gather Friday and Saturday to compare notes, celebrate Clark's legacy and discuss the future of cardiovascular treatment in a world where heart disease is the leading cause of death.īarney Clark was born and educated in Provo, a Utah boy who moved to Seattle to study dentistry and stayed until the failure of his heart brought him back to seek care, first at LDS Hospital and later in the U.'s artificial heart program. officials and the Utah Artificial Heart Institute will host a two-day symposium at Huntsman Cancer Institute to mark the milestone. William DeVries, implanted the Jarvik-7 artificial heart in the failing body of the Seattle dentist, so the anniversary is a fitting time to look at what led to the groundbreaking surgery and what has followed. 1, 1982 - as the first human to receive a total artificial heart, with FDA approval.Ī quarter century has passed since a University of Utah team, led by Dr. Countless calves and sheep, pounds of plastic and Dacron, miles of tubing, a hot tub and hundreds of bright minds and willing hands figuratively lined the road on which Barney Clark made his journey into medical history on Dec. ![]()
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