Jarvik-7

Jar·vik–7

noun \ˈjär-vik-ˈsev-ən\

Definition of JARVIK-7

: an air-driven artificial heart that remains tethered to an external console after implantation and that was formerly implanted in human patients in a clinical study—called also Jarvik heart

Biographical Note for JARVIK-7

Jarvik, Robert Koffler (born 1946), American physician and inventor. The son of a surgeon, Jarvik developed an early interest in surgical instruments, designing while still in his teens a surgical stapler to close wounds. By the time he received his MD degree, he had studied mechanical drawing and earned a master's degree in occupational biomechanics. In 1976 he began working in the artificial organs division at the University of Utah's medical center. He proceeded to design a series of mechanical hearts. First tested on animals, one of these hearts kept a calf alive for 268 days. In December 1982 the model designated as Jarvik-7 was for the first time implanted in a human being, a terminally ill cardiac patient, who went on to live for another 112 days with the plastic and aluminum device.