Northwestern Memorial's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute First To Trial Smallest Full Support Heart Assist Device

Medical News Today -- Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute is the first center in Illinois and among the first in the country to implant a new experimental left ventricular assist device (LVAD) into subjects with advanced heart failure, a condition where the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body's organs. The HeartWare® Ventricular Assist System (HeartWare® System) features the HVAD™ Pump, the smallest LVAD to provide full cardiac support currently under investigation in the United States. The HeartWare® System is intended as a bridge to heart transplantation. Northwestern Memorial surgeons have implanted four subjects with the device, and are the first in the country to transplant a subject as part of this trial.