St. Luke’s Cooley Transplant Center, Texas Heart Institute Implant 1,000th Ventricular Heart-Assist Device
St. Luke's Medical Center (SLMC) and the Texas Heart Institute (THI) announced today that a historic milestone has been reached? implantation of the 1,000th left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)? a mechanical pump that assists patients with congestive heart failure.
“It’s a significant milestone for a significant medical problem, which is why we’ve made it a key focus of our work for so long,” said O.H. “Bud” Frazier, MD, Director of Cardiovascular Surgery Research at THI & Chief of Transplant Service, St. Luke’s Medical Center.
More than 6 million people in the United States suffer from heart failure?the inability of the heart to pump enough blood to other organs in the body. Almost 600,000 die annually from end-stage heart failure. When medications and pacemakers no longer help the heart, patients are in need of a heart transplant or a mechanical pump. However, due to a shortage of donor hearts, only about 2,200 heart transplants are performed each year in the U.S.
Because of this unmet clinical need, THI and St. Luke’s researchers have spent decades developing ventricular assist devices or VADS that are smaller, more durable mechanical pumps, which assist the heart by helping the ventricles pump blood, thus easing the workload of the heart.
VADs are used both as a “bridge-to-transplant” for patients awaiting a heart transplant, and as “destination therapy” to support circulation in the body over a period of years. The LVADs used worldwide today were primarily developed by Dr. Frazier and his team at the Texas Heart Institute and SLMC in the 1970s and 80s.
An LVAD is the first acceptable solution for long-term support of heart failure patients, because it allows them to leave the hospital and return to active, productive lives. LVAD, known as a left ventricular assist device, helps the left ventricle?the heart's main pumping chamber?circulate blood throughout the body. The device consists of a pump that is implanted, which has an electrical cable that connects to external battery packs. The packs are worn on the shoulders and electronic controls are worn on the belt.
The 1,000th LVAD implantation was performed in early December, and the patient is now in recovery. No other hospital in the U.S. has performed this surgery more than St. Luke's Cooley Transplant Center® and the Texas Heart Institute.
“Patients have come from all over the country and the world to have this surgery here in Houston,” said Frazier. “When we began performing this procedure some 30 years ago, being able to help save the lives of 1,000 people was just a dream. Now, it’s a reality, and we couldn’t be more proud.”
Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Medical Center is the nation’s first cardiovascular center to offer the Thoratec HeartMate® XVE and the HeartMate® II LVAD as a permanent implant—called destination therapy—for end-stage congestive heart failure patients who do not qualify for heart transplantation due to age or other health circumstances.
