Results of in vivo studies of the completely implantable total artificial heart developed at the Pennsylvania State University

Thirty animal studies in calves were performed between September '93 and April '97. All calves underwent implantation of the completely implantable electric total artificial heart (ETAH) system developed at The Pennsylvania State University. Sixteen of 30 calves died prior to POD 14 (short term survivors: STS), and 14 animals survived for over 2 weeks (long term survivors: LTS). The causes of death of STS were surgery related complications (n=5), pulmonary complications (n=9), and device failure (DF: n=2), while the causes of death of LTS were DF (n=8), infectious (INF: n=3), outgrowth (OG: n=2) and scheduled termination (n=1). Six animals survived for over 3 months, with the longest surviving 160 days. The cause of death of these animals were DF (n=2), INF(n=2) and OG (n=2). Cardiac output was almost 8 L/min at approximately 140 bpm. CVP was kept under 15 mmHg for about 3 months after surgery. This in vivo study shows the high potential of the Penn State completely implantable ETAH system.