11/27/2023 0 Comments Chf cant stay awake![]() In some cases, the heart may even repair itself, especially in younger patients whose heart failure was caused by a virus that infected heart muscles, a condition called viral cardiomyopathy. "Six and a half years later, at 86, he's still going strong." Indeed, a recent study that compared results for patients under 70 and those over 70 found almost no difference in survival or quality of life.īecause the device restores normal blood flow to organs throughout the body, in many patients kidney and liver function improves. "A lot of people at the time might have said he was too old," says Boyle. "After those first few months, the curve flattens out, meaning if patients are strong enough to make it through the surgery and recovery, they're alive and doing very well."īoyle's first patient to receive the device was a 79-year-old man with congestive heart failure who received it as part of a clinical trial in 2005. "Most of the deaths occurred within the first few months among patients who were too sick to get through the surgery and recovery," says Boyle. The stronger the patients are, the better their odds. In one analysis, two out of three patients were alive two years after implantation - an impressive number given that recipients are almost always in the end stages of heart failure. Studies show that the risk of infection and other complications has dropped dramatically with the new pump. Next: Risk of complications has dropped with new heart pump. "Early pumps were too big to fit in smaller patients, including many women, and they weren't very durable, wearing out after only about two years," says Andrew Boyle, M.D., medical director of the heart failure, heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support programs at Aurora St. The pump that's keeping Sowden alive is the latest in a long line of devices designed to take over for faltering hearts. "It got so I couldn't walk more than a few steps without being short of breath," says Sowden. Sometimes called congestive heart failure, it's a progressive disease that robs the body's organs of the oxygenated blood they need. More than 5 million Americans suffer from heart failure. The device offers fresh hope for people with heart failure, which occurs when the heart is no longer strong enough to pump blood normally. But both Medicare and private insurers cover the device for eligible patients. Surgical and medical costs associated with implanting it and monitoring patients drive the price tag higher. To date, more than 8,000 heart patients have received the HeartMate II, according to Thoratec, the California-based company that makes the device. Sowden's pump is the same model that former Vice President Dick Cheney showed off on his recent book tour. It's connected via a flexible wire that emerges from his abdomen and hooks into a controller and battery packs he carries in a shoulder holster. The device takes blood from the lower chamber of his heart and pumps it into the aorta, where it is delivered throughout the body.
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