This is the first commercial, human-blood heat exchanger. Developed in 1957, it permitted a patient's body temperature to be safely and rapidly lowered during open heart surgery to any desired and precisely controlled hypothermic level, then during the conclusion of the operation rapidly rewarmed to normal. Prior to this, hypothermic surgery required hours of preoperative, hard-to-control, external emersion cooling and postoperative rewarming.
Its design was a cooperative development between researchers at the Duke University Medical Center led by Dr. Ivan W.
Biomedical Engineering
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Image Credit: Courtesy ASMEImage Caption: A disassembly of the Blood Heat ExchangerEra_date_from: 1957
1980
This is the first extremely smooth, surgically implantable, seam-free pulsatile blood pump to receive widespread clinical use. In its use in more than 250 patients, it has been responsible for saving numerous lives. When used as a bridge to transplant, the pump has a success rate greater than 90 percent. There has never been a device-failure-related fatality of any of these patients. A successful heart-assist pump could save an estimated fifteen thousand individuals annually.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/Madhero88 (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Pierce-Donachy Ventricular Assist DeviceEra_date_from: 1973
1990