A heart pump for kids awaiting a transplant appears headed for approval at the FDA, as the WSJ reports. It would help fill a void for lot of children hit by diseases usually associated with adults: the lack of kid-friendly devices to help in their care. The Berlin Heart can help keep kids’ hearts beating for several months if necessary until a donor organ can be found, much longer than a last-ditch heart-lung machine called ECMO that doctors sometimes use in such circumstances. The Berlin, which won unanimous recommendation from an FDA advisory panel last month, has been on the market in Europe since 1996 and available in the U.S. under a compassionate use protocol since 2000. A clinical trial presented at the FDA panel provided evidence of substantial benefit despite a risk of stroke
