Heart-Assist Devices
UPMC physicians have world-class experience with heart-assist devices. The Artificial Heart Program at UPMC is one of the most active of its kind, performing more than 300 ventricular assist device (VAD) placements over the past two decades. UPMC continues to have the country’s best results in using biventricular assist devices for the most critically ill patients presenting with acute congestive heart failure and cardiogenic shock.
Patients at UPMC have available the full range of VAD utilization, including bridge-to-transplantation; permanent implantation for patients who do not qualify for cardiac transplantation; and bridge-to-recovery, an exciting new option for some patients whose cardiac tissues heal enough to forgo transplantation. Over the past decade, UPMC specialists have developed strategies for enhancing myocardial recovery while on an assist device, resulting in the largest published series in the nation of bridge-to-recovery patients.
UPMC acts as a regional and national resource for new cardiac recovery and replacement technologies. Collaboration with McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine basic scientists and engineers in the fields of molecular cardiology, genetics, and engineering allows UPMC heart failure specialists to develop new technologies and therapies. This partnership gives UPMC clinicians access to the latest in cardiac assist device designs, such as the Heartmate II rotary pump, codesigned at the McGowan Institute. Also under study are new assist devices that can be implanted through arteries and veins without requiring major surgery.