Medical Advances
Ventricular Assist Devices: A New Option for Severe Heart Failure
A ventricular assist device (VAD) is a battery-operated mechanical pump that helps a weakened heart pump blood throughout the body. It is most commonly used as a “bridge” to transplantation for those whose medical therapy has failed and who are hospitalized with severe heart failure.
More recently, Emory has started using VADs as an alternative to transplantation, either when a donor heart is not available or when a patient is ineligible for or unwilling to undergo transplantation. In these cases it’s known as “destination therapy.”
The Emory Heart & Vascular Center implanted its first device as “destination therapy” in 2006 as part of a clinical trial. More recently, the Center has joined another clinical trial to test a newer device that promises to provide better patient results and greater mechanical reliability.
Patient Advantages
- Because the number of heart transplants is limited by donor availability, using a VAD as destination therapy offers hope for more patients with severe heart disease.
- VADs offer a new and viable option for patients with severe heart failure who are unwilling to undergo transplantation or who are ineligible for a variety of reasons, including personal or religious beliefs, cancer, blood clotting problems and other debilitating health conditions.
- VADs often allow patients to resume a much more normal lifestyle and can significantly improve quality of life.
Emory University Hospital's Cardiac Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) destination therapy program recently earned the "Gold Seal of Approval" from The Joint Commission, which accredits health care organizations and programs in the United States. Emory's VAD program is the only certified program of its kind in Georgia and one of 80 centers in the United States.
Also, 2010 marks 25 years of saving lives for Emory's Heart Transplant program. It started at Emory University Hospital in 1985 when surgeons performed the first heart transplant in Georgia. Today, patient survival rates are among the best in the country.
