IMPLANTABLE HEART PUMPS HIGHLIGHTED

A recent event highlighting the 20th anniversary of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's (UPMC) artificial heart program focused on what implantable heart pumps have done to prolong patients' lives.

The pump is connected by a tube leading from a patient's abdomen to a two-wheeled, backpack-sized unit until the patient receives a heart transplant or can be weaned off the device without the need for a transplant.

"About 75 percent of UPMC's patients have been successfully 'bridged' to transplant, meaning more than 200 patients who would have otherwise died without a heart transplant survived until a suitable heart was found," a press release on the UPMC website said. "Ventricular assist devices have remarkably allowed 10 UPMC patients to regain heart function, making heart transplantation no longer necessary."

For some patients, the devices "are now viewed as a means to recover from heart failure," said Robert Kormos, medical director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, where research to develop new artificial heart technologies is taking place. "Still, certain other devices are being considered a potential long-term or permanent solution for select patients with end-stage chronic heart failure who may not qualify for heart transplantation," Kormos said.

More than 350 patients have received artificial heart devices since 1985, UPMC said. The center has used devices manufactured by Abiomed, Jarvik, Novacor, Thoratec, HeartMate, TandemHeart and Ventracor.