Heart pump

2001/11/13 Agirre Ruiz de Arkaute, Aitziber - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Anatomia/Fisiologia
• Medikuntza

The result of a recent investigation by the American Health Organization could alter the availability of the LVAD pump. Research has been done with patients who expect heart transplants and have seen that they can live longer.

These are patients who are about to die from heart disease, people who by their severity or by their age cannot be transplanted. Compared to patients taking medication, it is observed that those who have a pump have lengthened their life: the pump has reduced the risk of death by almost 50% in the first year, four times more than medication. However, it remains to be analyzed the lengthening of the life of the pump and the cost of it.

The pump is the size of the walkman and has so far been applied to the abdomen. A pump duct is inserted into the left ventricle, through which blood is collected and poured into the pump. The pump will send it to the aorta, which will carry oxygen-rich blood to the brain and other organs. However, another tube associated with the pump will be out of the body and attached to the battery that the patient should carry.

At the moment, this pump has only been used temporarily for patients waiting for transplantation, but the possibility of it being sustainable is being studied. For the very serious transplantation is too dangerous and the pump can definitely improve your quality of life.