Ventricular Assist Device (VAD)
When severe heart disease puts your life in question, Carle has the
answer – the VAD.
The Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) is an amazing piece of technology, kind of a
"partial artificial heart." It’s used in extreme cases after heart attack
or by-pass surgery, when the patient’s heart is too weak to pump properly. The VAD
temporarily takes over to give the heart time to rest and recover. It can also be used to
support those waiting for a permanent heart transplant. Carle is the only area hospital
with the life-saving VAD - just one more option that helps Carle heart specialists
save lives.
Ventricular Assist Device
- Enables heart to rest and recover after surgery
- Can "buy time" for patients waiting for transplant
- Small and portable (some patients may even return home with the LVAD)
- Can be used up to 6 months
- FDA and Medicare approved
The Thoratecã VAD System is comprised of three major
components: a single-use blood pump; single use tubing that connects the blood pump to the
heart and vessels; and a console that drives the blood pump pneumatically. Although this
VAD is half the size of earlier devices, it pumps five liters of blood per minute to
maintain adequate circulation to perfuse vital organs.
Tubes are placed in the left chamber of the heart that pumps blood out to the body.
Blood is pulled form the ventricle into the pump. The pump then sends the blood into the
aorta, the large blood vessel leaving the ventricle.
This VAD will allow surgeons to operate on people with heart failure—patients who
frequently cannot be weaned off of the heart-lung machine that provides circulation during
heart surgery. It will eventually add to the Carle Heart Center’s ways to treat
congestive heart failure (CHF).
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