Profiles the man who was responsible for inventing the first artificial heart.

It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. If America could send a man to the moon, shouldn’t the best surgeons in the world be able to build an artificial heart? In Ticker, Texas Monthly executive editor and two time National Magazine Award winner Mimi Swartz shows just how complex and difficult it can be to replicate one of nature’s greatest creations. Part investigative journalism, part medical mystery, Ticker is a dazzling story of modern innovation, recounting fifty years of false starts, abysmal failures and miraculous triumphs, as experienced by one the world’s foremost heart surgeons, O.H. “Bud” Frazier, who has given his life to saving the un-savable. His journey takes him from a small town in west Texas to one of the country’s most prestigious medical institutions, The Texas Heart Institute, from the halls of Congress to the animal laboratories where calves are fitted with new heart designs. The roadblocks to success —medical setbacks, technological shortcomings, government regulations – are immense. Still, Bud and his associates persist, finding inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. A field beside the Nile irrigated by an Archimedes screw. A hardware store in Brisbane, Australia. A seedy bar on the wrong side of Houston. Until post WWII, heart surgery did not exist. Ticker provides a riveting history of the pioneers who gave their all to the courageous process of cutting into the only organ humans cannot live without. Heart surgeons Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley, whose feud dominated the dramatic beginnings of heart surgery. Christian Barnaard, who changed the world overnight by performing the first heart transplant. Inventor Robert Jarvik, whose artificial heart made patient Barney Clark a worldwide symbol of both the brilliant promise of technology and the devastating evils of experimentation run amuck. Rich in supporting players, Ticker introduces us to Bud’s brilliant colleagues in his quixotic quest to develop an artificial heart: Billy Cohn, the heart surgeon and inventor who devotes his spare time to the pursuit of magic and music; Daniel Timms, the Brisbane biomedical engineer whose design of a lightweight, pulseless heart with but a single moving part offers a new way forward. And, as government money dries up, the unlikeliest of backers, Houston’s furniture king, Mattress Mack. In a sweeping narrative of one man’s obsession, Swartz raises some of the hardest questions of the human condition. What are the tradeoffs of medical progress? What is the cost, in suffering and resources, of offering patients a few more months, or years of life? Must science do harm to do good? Ticker takes us on an unforgettable journey into the power and mystery of the human heart.

Fighting heart disease with machines and devices-- Multiple approaches to building artificial hearts : technological optimism and political support in the early years -- Dispute and disappointment : heart transplantation and total artificial heart implant cases in the 1960s -- Technology and risk : nuclear-powered artificial hearts and medical device regulation -- Media spotlight : the Utah total artificial heart -- Clinical and commercial rewards : ventricular assist devices -- Securing a place : therapeutic clout and second-generation VADs -- Artificial hearts in the 21st century

A significant medical event is expected in 1992: the first human use of a fully implantable, long-term cardiac assist device. This timely volume reviews the artificial heart program-and in particular, the National Institutes of Health's major investment-raising important questions. The volume includes: Consideration of the artificial heart versus heart transplantation and other approaches to treating end-stage heart disease, keeping in mind the different outcomes and costs of these treatments. A look at human issues, including the number of people who may require the artificial heart, patient quality of life, and other ethical and societal questions. Examination of how this technology's use can be targeted most appropriately. Attention to achieving access to this technology for all those who can benefit from it. The committee also offers three mechanisms to aid in allocating research and development funds.

"On December 2, 1982, the fully mechanical Jarvik-7 heart was placed inside Barney Clark, culminating years of painstaking research and making medical history by successfully pumping Clark's blood for 112 days. True Valor takes an in-depth look at this significant event by telling the story of the doctors and researchers involved, of Barney Clark, and of the evolution of the artificial heart before and after Clark's transplant. Author Don Olsen is well positioned to tell this story, having worked on the artificial heart project under Dr. William Kolff, the man who designed the Jarvik-7. His narrative conveys the concerns and emotions of those who were part of Clark's story while offering the insights of one who knows that research does not happen overnight but takes time, resources, and the efforts of many people. Olsen's account shares the human sides of this story along with the embedded politics and technical details of medical research in clear, readable language"--Provided by publisher.

Developed by a pediatrician, this book focuses on the amazing design and functionality of the human body’s circulatory system. You will discover amazing facts like: The human heart beats 100,000 times a day, and one drop of blood has 5 million red blood cells in it A timeline of important discoveries and innovators as well as key anatomical terms and concepts Discussions of disease and proper care for optimal health! The third book in the popular elementary anatomy series God’s Wondrous Machine, focuses on the heart, blood, and blood vessels that make up the body’s circulatory system. Understanding the mechanics of this system in transporting nutrients, blood, chemicals, and more to cells within the body is key to understanding how it helps fight disease as well as maintain a properly balanced temperature. Readers learn how the deliberate design of their bodies enables it to function as it should, just as God meant for it to.

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