Newer Heart Devices Significantly Improve Survival, Complication Rate and Quality of Life Nov 21, 2009
Two hundred patients at 38 centers nationwide were randomly assigned to receive either the newer, smaller continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD), or a larger, pulsatile-flow LVAD. The newer device creates a continuous flow of blood in and out of the failing heart, while the older device mimics the heart's function using a pulse action with blood alternately sucked into the pump from the left ventricle then forced out into the aorta. Fifty-eight percent of patients implanted with... (Science Daily)
Artificial Pump Effectively Backs Up Failing Hearts Apr 5, 2009
The device, called a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), is the latest generation of heart assist devices ... 21, 2001) Left ventricular assist devices, or LVADs, used to mechanically pump blood through the hearts of individuals with heart failure as they await transplantation, can reverse reduced heart muscle ... (May 16, 2002) In one of the longest follow-up studies of an implantable left ventricular assist device, heart failure patients reported a substantially improved quality of life,... (Science Daily)
Ventracor on life support Mar 19, 2009
" The VentrAssist LVAD (left ventricular assist device) is an implantable blood pump. Ventracor has appointed Steven Sherman and John Gothard of Ferrier Hodgson as administrators. In February, Ventracor said it was unable to release its financial statements for the half-year period ended December 31, 2008 by the due date. At the same time, Ventracor announced that it had reduced its operations in the United States by 13 staff and would close its facility at Budd Lake in New Jersey in the US.... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Business)
Peer Portner; 69, a pioneer in heart pump development Feb 23, 2009
In 1984 the mechanism - now commonly known as a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, was implanted in a human patient in a procedure that made a later successful heart transplant possible ... Frazier, who helped develop the HeartMate pump, now considered to be the most widely used left ventricular assist device, continued, "Peer Portner was an original investigator of a lifesaving technology who contributed to the literature and first generation of these devices.". (Boston Globe)
Portner, pioneer of implanted heart pump, dies Feb 14, 2009
He began working with doctors at the school in the early 1970s to develop his pump, called the left ventricular assist device. In 1984, the device kept alive a heart patient for eight days until a heart transplant was found, the first time such a device was successfully implanted in a human, the university said. (Fresno Bee -- State)
Stanford heart surgery pioneer dies at 68 Feb 14, 2009
A consulting professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the , he developed the left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, which made history in 1984 when it kept a gravely ill heart patient alive mechanically for eight days, until a heart was available for transplantation. That was the first time such a device was successfully implanted in a human being. (San Jose Business Journal, CA)
