Atlanta A new kind of heart pump that helps people with heart failure survive was surgically implanted for the first time in the United States by doctors at Emory University Hospital. The device is smaller and more comfortable.
Dr. Mani Daneshmand, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Emory who is in charge of the clinical trial investigating the new pump, referred to as a ventricular assist device, or VAD, under the brand name BrioVAD System, said it’s encouraging to see innovation is still occurring.
Daneshmand has spent around two decades working with cardiac pumps. How can we prevent these individuals from dying? It is both a high and a low bar. We have now discovered a way to prevent their death. Let’s make them appreciate life more now.
In order to assist the heart in pumping blood, VADs—mechanical pumps—are surgically placed inside the chest. For individuals with heart failure who are not improving with alternative therapies including medicine, surgery, or a pacemaker, the VAD may be a lifesaver. For patients awaiting a heart transplant, they can potentially act as a bridge.
VADs have historically been large and unwieldy, and there is a significant chance of complications, such as infections at the location where the device’s cable leaves the body.The gadget must be implanted during significant open heart surgery. A controller unit and battery pack are worn outside the body and connected to the VAD through a tiny skin incision, but the device itself is implanted inside the heart.
Compared to previous iterations of the device, significant advancements in recent decades have allowed patients to live longer, with fewer difficulties, and with a higher quality of life.
Daneshmand is optimistic that the BrioVAD System will represent yet another significant advancement in medical care. Compared to previous iterations of the gadget, it will be more pleasant to wear and incorporates features intended to minimize complications.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the start of clinical trials earlier this year, and Emory was the first study site to employ the BrioVAD System on a patient. Emory and other healthcare facilities nationwide, such as Duke University, the University of Chicago, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, will monitor the BrioVAD System’s efficacy and safety as part of a clinical trial. In order to treat end-stage heart failure, they will contrast the novel gadget with other available treatments.
Over the course of two to three years, the study will involve roughly 750 individuals. BrioHealth Solutions, based in Massachusetts, created BrioVAD.
According to Daneshmand, the study’s objective is to demonstrate that this product functions on par with conventional treatments, if not better. Researchers will explore for further significant benefits, like reduced adverse effects and comfort and convenience of usage.
According to Daneshmand, the BrioVAD pump is smaller than the ones that are already on the market, which makes it easier to install and might be less work to remove in the event that a VAD patient has a heart transplant in the future.
According to Daneshmand, the VAD pump has a special design that is kinder to the heart and replicates the natural rhythm of a human pulse.
According to him, the wearable components are made with the patient’s experience in mind. The BrioVAD has a smaller controller with the backup battery built in, so the patient only needs to connect to one, lighter battery instead of the two big, heavy batteries that are now provided with the commercially available VAD.
I’m hoping that the design modifications will eventually show that patients have fewer infections and problems, and that some of the improvements are useful. They are not need to carry two large, bulky batteries. Their driveline isn’t large and cumbersome. One of theirs is little and bendable. The FDA doesn’t investigate certain things, like whether patients prefer two or one battery, but when we are caring for patients, it does make a difference for them, and all of these things affect their quality of life.
Heart failure, which occurs when the heart is unable to pump blood as it should, affects an estimated 6.2 million Americans today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart failure accounts for one in eight deaths in the United States each year.Patients with severe heart failure who receive a heart pump can live for five years or longer, according to recent evidence.
According to Daneshmand, Emory Healthcare leads the country in VAD implantation, with doctors installing 80–100 of them annually.
According to Daneshmand, the woman who was given the first BrioVAD System is in her early 30s, doing great, and has already been released from the hospital. She suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy, or DCM, a disorder that weakens and enlarges the heart, making it harder for her to pump blood efficiently.
She might eventually be a candidate for a heart transplant as her condition improves, he said.
He claimed that helping someone who is ill get better is the most fulfilling thing in the world. When a patient you saw who was ill returns and is better as a result of the work done by your team, there is no higher high. She exudes an enthusiasm that is unmatched. She will continue to do admirably, in my opinion.
Over the previous two or more decades, Daneshmand claimed to have witnessed numerous variants of the pump.
“What is currently widely available is great, but it’s not perfect,” he remarked.
“It’s a thrilling moment to be here,” he stated. For its time, the earliest version I ever worked with was a good pump. He claimed that although it was something that people could take home and receive support, it was noisy, unreliable, and required numerous surgeries to keep patients alive.
–The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, by Helena Oliviero
2024 The Journal-Constitution of Atlanta. Go to atajc.com. Tribune Content Agency, LLC is the distributor.
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