Portable Pumps May Heal Weak Hearts

Portable Pumps May Heal Weak Hearts

May 2004
Volume III, Number 11

An unexpected observation by research teams in the U.S. and Europe is challenging the notion that end-stage heart failure is an irreversible condition. Clinical evidence suggests that treatment with a battery-operated, mechanical pump-type device called a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) may help patients with failing hearts regain cardiac function.

Currently, LVADs are considered "bridge therapy" to transplantation. In some cases, however, patients with profound heart failure showed adequate cardiac function during brief periods when the support device was turned off. In other reports, patients remained stable after removal of a failed or infected LVAD.

The intriguing findings--from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and Texas Heart Institute in Houston--are published in the medical journal Cardiology.

Further study will help scientists learn how mechanical "unloading" with an LVAD restores cardiac function and may lead to new treatments for heart failure in the future. The portable heart pumps are utilized in most heart transplant centers.

How does an LVAD work?
A common type of LVAD has a tube that pulls blood from the left ventricle into a pump. The pump then sends blood into the aorta (the large blood vessel leaving the left ventricle). This effectively helps the weakened ventricle. The pump is placed in the upper part of the abdomen. Another tube attached to the pump is brought out of the abdominal wall to the outside of the body and attached to the pump's battery and control system. LVADs are now portable and are often used for weeks or months. Patients with LVADs can be discharged from the hospital while waiting for a donor heart to become available.
--American Heart Association