Device Helps Failing Hearts
Reported July 28, 2006
BALTIMORE (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) — Doctors say they’re closer than ever to finding the perfect heart pump that could someday help nearly 5 million Americans who have heart failure and may even replace a heart transplant.
Police dispatcher Wilburn Foxworth Jr. can’t believe he’s healthy enough to field calls about other people’s emergencies, instead of struggling with his own. But then Foxworth, who had end stage heart failure, took part in a study to see if a new heart pump could keep him alive until he got a transplant.
“I think if it wasn’t for that pump, I wouldn’t have made it,” he says.
The new VentraAssist device uses catheters to bypass the pumping chamber of the heart. It’s powered by a cord that comes out of the body and plugs into a battery pack. The device works like other versions, but it’s smaller, so it can be used on more petite adults and even children. It’s also noiseless and can last forever.
“It’s easier to implant, easier for the patient to receive. Requires, if you wish, a smaller incision,” says Bartley Griffith, M.D., a cardiac surgeon at University of Maryland in Baltimore.
For now, the pump is used as a bridge to a transplant or an alternative for patients not strong enough for the surgery. Dr. Griffith thinks someday it will also take pressure off hearts to help them heal after heart attacks.
“I think these pumps will take major part of the future health care burden away from us,” he says.
The pump kept Foxworth alive for four months until he got a heart transplant. Now, he has scars, but he’s healthy. “It saved my life, literally. It made me breathe better. I was able to sleep. I was able to walk without getting tired,” he says, and he believes the pump will soon help others defy the odds, too.
Foxworth was the second person in the United States to have the device implanted. Four patients have received it at the University of Maryland so far. All are doing well. Ten patients will be tested in this round of trials and if the pump looks safe, the trial will be expanded and the FDA will study the outcome to decide on approval.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Bill Seiler
Asstistant Director, Media Relations
University of Maryland Medical Center and School of Medicine
22 S. Greene St.
Baltimore, MD 21201-1544
(410) 328-8919
bseiler@umm.edu