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(Circulation. 2000;101:e9033.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH, Circulation Newswriter

New Era for Ventricular Devices

Surgeons at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston implanted the Jarvik 2000 in a 52-year-old woman with cardiomyopathy, signaling a new era for ventricular assist devices (VADs). The Jarvik 2000 (Figure) is a small, battery-powered axial flow pump that can be used in smaller patients whose bodies are not large enough to accommodate the larger VADs currently approved for use.

View larger version (91K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Jarvik 2000 pump implanted into the left ventricular apex.

O.H. Frazier, MD, codirector of Cullen Cardiovascular Research Laboratories and the chief of cardiopulmonary transplantation at the Texas Heart Institute, implanted the thumb-sized pump in the woman’s chest on April 10 under a protocol approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The implant surgery was observed by Stephen Westaby, MD, and his clinical research team from Oxford, UK. The Oxford group initiated a collaborative research project with Drs Jarvik and Frazier in recent years. The FDA has tentatively approved the use of the new small heart-assist device as a bridge to transplant in 5 patients. Dr Frazier said the new pump has many advantages for a variety of patients.

In smaller patients, the pump, which is about the size of a "C" battery, offers a chance to unload the burden on the heart. The miniature intraventricular axial flow pump is only 25 cm³ in volume and weighs 90 g. In this case, Dr Frazier put the Jarvik 2000 in through the left chest rather than the midline, and the patient lost only 200 mL of blood, which is . . . [Full Text of this Article]