On 2nd July 2001, AbioMed successfully implants a total artificial heart (TAH), called AbioCor, into a man named Robert Tools. Read more about the artificial heart and the stories surrounding its implant.
AbioMed is a corporation that manufactures implant devices. It had been working on the AbioCor device (the artificial heart) since the 1990s. But it began to make significant progress after it started animal studies in 1998.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted AbioMed an investigational device exemption (IDE) in January 2001. This exemption is given to devices that are used in clinical studies to collect data that helps determine if it is both safe and effective.
With this permission in hand, AbioMed proceeded to implant AbioCor, a total artificial heart (TAH), into Robert Tools on 2nd July 2001. According to reports, Tools had pre-existing severe and medical conditions. His internal organs were depleting before the transplant.
After the transplant, Robert Tools lived for 151 days before his death in November 2001. He had become popular and Governors in the United States visited him. Even Muhammad Ali went to see the first man with the total artificial heart (TAH), AbioCor.
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In total, 15 patients got the AbioCor artificial heart implanted in them. A Wikipedia article says that they had an average life span of about five months. The second patient that got the implant, Tom Christerson, lived for 17 months.
Usually, AbioCor was only implanted in patients who had severe heart failure and were likely to die within two weeks without transplantation. The total artificial heart (TAH) is small enough to fit into a person but was most suitable for men with a large frame.
AbioCor uses biosensors, plastics and energy transfer. It runs on a rechargeable source of power (an internal batter) that can be charged without wires or tubes penetrating the skin. It has a product lifespan of no longer than 18 months.
However, unlike life support machines, patients with total artificial heart (TAH), AbioCor, implant, can move around and even go shopping, fishing and so on.
AbioMed has allegedly stopped the production of the total artificial heart (TAH), AbioCor. The company also removed it from its website after one of the key researchers on the project, David Lederman died.
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