University of Virginia Health System

Cardiac Interventions

New Device Aids Lifesaving Treatments

The University of Virginia Health System is the first hospital in Virginia to offer the TandemHeart®, a less-invasive left ventricular assist device (LVAD) that enables more critically ill patients to undergo lifesaving cardiac procedures.

Unlike other LVADs - which require a major surgical procedure and a chest incision to install - the TandemHeart is installed entirely through catheters placed percutaneously through leg arteries and veins, says James Bergin, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Director of UVA's Heart Failure/Heart Transplantation program. The TandemHeart is designed to provide temporary assistance; the device can pump blood up to 5 liters per minute, Bergin says, equaling blood flow for resting cardiac output.

UVA physicians have successfully used the TandemHeart in treating four groups of patients:

• Heart failure and transplant patients. These critically ill patients especially benefit because they are spared an invasive surgical procedure to implant a traditional LVAD. "We can rescue some people who are too sick for a major LVAD operation," Bergin says.
• Patients who need temporary circulation support. The TandemHeart can serve as a bridge to another procedure or to give physicians time to determine the best treatment plan, Bergin says. For instance, a recent patient used the TandemHeart as a bridge to lifesaving mitral-valve surgery, says Michael Ragosta, M.D., Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories and Director of Interventional Cardiology at UVA. "The patient was too unstable to go to the operating room without the device," he says. "It's a fabulous tool to support patients who are critically ill and who wouldn't otherwise survive."
• Patients who need circulatory support to enable certain high-risk coronary interventions they wouldn't otherwise be able to receive. These include stenting and angioplasty procedures involving major arteries in patients with reduced heart function, Ragosta says.
• Patients undergoing certain high-risk electrophysiology procedures. Ragosta says the device can help stabilize patients to allow them to undergo some electrophysiology procedures such as an ablation for the treatment of ventricular tachycardia that could not be performed without circulatory support.

To discuss cardiac treatment options with Dr. Bergin or Dr. Ragosta, call UVA Physician Direct at 800-552-3723.