Liotta-Cooley Artificial Heart
- Description
- This is the first total artificial heart implanted in a human body. It was developed by Domingo Liotta and implanted by surgeon Denton Cooley on April 4, 1969, at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston. The recipient, Haskell Karp, lived for sixty-four hours with the artificial heart pumping oxygenated blood through his body until a human heart was available for transplant.
- Although Karp died soon after receiving a real heart, and some criticized the surgery as unethical because it was without formal review by the medical community, the procedure demonstrated the viability of artificial hearts as a bridge to transplant in cardiac patients.
- Object Name
- artificial heart
- Date made
- 1969
- maker
- Liotta, Domingo
- Measurements
- overall: 18.7 cm x 22.8 cm x 16.4 cm; 7 3/8 in x 8 31/32 in x 6 15/32 in
- Place Made
- United States: Texas, Houston
- ID Number
- 1978.1002.01
- accession number
- 1978.1002
- catalog number
- 1978.1002.01
- subject
- Cardiology
- Health & Medicine
- Surgery
- Government, Politics, and Reform
- National Treasures exhibit
- Cardiology
- Surgery
- Health Care
- Artificial Organs
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- National Treasures exhibit
- Exhibition
- Exhibit:
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- Credit Line
- Denton Cooley, M.D.
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