LVAD Insertion

An LVAD may be temporarily used while you wait for a donor heart to become available. This type of treatment is called a bridge to transplant. An LVAD can keep blood pumping through your body despite a damaged heart. It will be removed when you receive your new heart. An LVAD also may help other organs in the body work better while you're waiting for a heart transplant. LVADs can sometimes lower pressures in the lungs. High lung pressures can prevent someone from being able to receive a heart transplant.

Sometimes it's not possible to have a heart transplant. So an LVAD may be used as a permanent treatment. This use of a ventricular assist device is called destination therapy. If you have heart failure, it may improve your quality of life.

Different blood tests are done to see how well the heart, liver, kidneys and other organs are working. A complete blood count and blood clotting studies are done to make sure your blood isn't too thin for surgery. This quick and painless test records the electrical signals in the heart. It can show the rhythm of the heart and how fast or how slowly the heart is beating. Sound waves create images of the heart in motion. This test shows the structure of the heart and heart valves and blood flow through the heart. An echocardiogram can help determine whether a ventricular assist device is the right treatment option.

You stay in the hospital after LVAD surgery. How long you stay in the hospital depends on your health before the surgery and how quickly you recover. At the hospital, your health care team watches you for complications. Tubes drain urine from your bladder. Tubes also drain fluid and blood from your heart and chest. As you recover in the hospital, your health care team helps you become more active and stronger. They'll help you sit up, get out of bed and walk. If you need more time to improve your strength, a short stay at a rehabilitation center may be recommended.

An LVAD helps the heart pump oxygenated blood to the body when the heart isn’t healthy enough to do so. This can lessen the heart’s workload, reduce symptoms and keep a person alive longer.

Also called a mechanical circulatory support device, an LVAD can be used in several ways, including:

• A bridge to recovery: The LVAD is placed temporarily until the heart can pump effectively on its own.

• A bridge to transplant: The LVAD keeps the heart pumping until a donor heart organ is available.

• Destination therapy: The LVAD is used as a permanent implant to lessen symptoms for people who can't have other treatments, such as transplantation.