New device helps save heart patients

Posted at: 01/24/2012 5:47 PM | Updated at: 01/25/2012 12:53 PM
By: Benita Zahn

That Dave Morey is going home is almost miraculous.

It's almost two months to the day he arrived at Albany Medical Center, fairly knocking on heaven's gate. His congestive heart failure was so advanced, he'd run out of options.

"He was in the hospital. He was in, he was out and they did the last catherization and that was the realization things were not going in the right direction and the transplant was the way to go," his wife Kathleen explained.

But cardiologist Dr. Mark Tallman from Albany Med had another idea. Rather than let Morey languish and grow even weaker while waiting for a heart, he turned to the HeartMate II -- approved just a year ago.

It's the latest in LVAD technology. LVAD is short for Left Ventricular Assist Device. It helps the heart's left ventricle -- the main pumping chamber of the heart -- deliver blood to the rest of the body.

"The big advantage of the HeartMate II is that it only has one working part, which is the impeller. The device, which spins internal and creates the suction to pull the blood from the diseased left ventricle and put it into the aorta," explained Tallman.

LVADs have been around since the mid 1990s but they were larger and had more working parts with more chance for trouble.

The plumbing parts of the HeartMate II are implanted. The rest of the hardware, including the controller, is worn outside the body.

"I don't even realize I have it on," Morey said.

Morey wears two batteries at all times with backups charging, ready to swap out. The batteries last seven to nine hours. So he plugs in to sleep. The last thing an LVAD patient wants is to run out of juice. And yes, there's a warning signal in the event of trouble.

Because the HeartMate II LVAD lasts years, it can be what's called a destination device -- one you wear forever, rather than being a bridge to transplant.  Older devices wore out in 18 months.

Morey's not sure yet what he'll do.

"The survival rate to one year after having an LVAD implant very closely parallels heart transplant," said Tallman. "The number of people alive at one year is about 85 to 90 percent."

As technology improves, Morey's surgeon, Dr. Stuart Miller sees a new future.

"These will likely mean the end of heart transplants the way we know it now,” Miller predicted.

For Morey, it's one step at a time and right now. He's got a short list of things to do.

"I'm ready. Ready to go home. Ready to be with my wife. Ready to relax at home,” he said.

Morey's procedure was done Nov. 30. The second LVAD surgery was done Jan. 19.

Tweet