Easing Surgery for People with Heart Failure

Aug 26, 2023

Easing Surgery for People with Heart Failure

University of Rochester Medical Center cardiologists were first in the United States to use a less-invasive approach to implanting the HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device. This FDA-approved technique is a game-changer for people with congestive heart failure: it eliminates the need to open the sternum and patients experience fewer complications and enjoy a faster recovery. Click here to learn more: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/s…
Thanks to WCNY TV for sharing this story.

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0.506 -> [ Music ]

10.696 -> >> Heart failure is a condition in which the heart is unable

14.586 -> to provide sufficient blood flow to sustain the body.

18.906 -> >> It's also one of the biggest health problems in U.S.

24.126 -> with over 7 million people currently having advanced heart

28.646 -> failure and, you know, being one

30.916 -> of the most common health problems for adult population.

35.646 -> >> Symptoms of heart failure are really quite varied.

38.896 -> It could be something as simple as shortness of breath

43.256 -> with activity, exhaustion, and then some

45.586 -> of the signs could be lower extremity swelling, which is one

50.586 -> of the hallmarks of congestive heart failure.

53.906 -> So our program at Strong Memorial Hospital started

56.926 -> in 2000.

58.166 -> We've had our program to be approved as an LVAD center

63.956 -> and recognized locally, regionally, and nationally

68.506 -> as a very strong LVAD center.

72.456 -> The mainstay of treatment is beta blockers or ACE inhibitors.

78.166 -> Unfortunately, there is a large subset of patients that,

82.306 -> despite being on all of these medications

85.346 -> and having the defibrillator implanted

88.346 -> where unfortunately their heart condition just continues

92.016 -> over time to worsen.

94.066 -> >> HeartMate 3 is a so-called left ventricular assist device.

100.326 -> HeartMate 3 has been the first pump that's been implanted

103.236 -> with this less invasive technique

105.066 -> that we've developed here.

106.316 -> We were the first one in the country to implant HeartMate 3

109.536 -> through a less invasive approach.

111.366 -> So it's a mechanical pump that is fully,

114.556 -> magnetically levitated.

116.006 -> And it's a pump that has a little rotor,

119.166 -> and it has magnets around the rotor.

121.266 -> In that way, using a centrifugal force, pushes the blood out

125.406 -> and pushes the blood to the rest of the body.

128.226 -> That helps patients by adding additional three, four,

132.956 -> or five liters of blood flow to the already existing blood flow

136.966 -> that they have with their weakened heart.

138.696 -> The procedure altogether takes roughly four to five hours.

141.966 -> We've implanted over 100 patients with this technique.

145.006 -> >> So this pump that I have

146.156 -> in my right-hand is called the HeartMate XVE,

149.816 -> and this was the first implanted pump that was implanted

155.626 -> in the year 2000 or so.

159.556 -> And based on the implantation of this mechanical heart pump,

165.916 -> it was shown that actually people survived much longer

170.986 -> with this heart pump compared to, at that time,

174.376 -> conventional medical therapy.

176.626 -> >> This newest pump has the same implant position,

180.096 -> so this little tip goes inside of the apex or at the top

184.576 -> of the heart while the outflow graft comes

187.906 -> out of this port here and gets connected to the aorta.

191.336 -> Just -- today, we can do it

193.226 -> through these two small incisions compared

195.676 -> to a very big surgery that we used to have to do with the XVE.

201.456 -> >> In terms of the recovery time,

204.656 -> looking at all the different pumps, it really is dependent

208.456 -> on the surgical approach.

211.346 -> The fact that these pumps are now implanted in a minimally

215.506 -> or less invasive way, saving the sternum

219.116 -> or the breastbone allows the patients to get up much faster.

223.146 -> >> So patients are obviously always a little puzzled by what

227.536 -> that means that you have a little cord coming

229.566 -> out of your belly but at the end

231.006 -> of the day they feel much better going home.

233.526 -> And they overall really, really do well with the pump.

237.946 -> We really decreased our length of stay with this technique

240.526 -> for a little less than a week.

242.346 -> >> They're able to get their quality of life back nearly

246.106 -> to the point where it was before they were plagued

248.976 -> with their underlying heart condition.

253.026 -> I do think that minimally invasive LVAD implantation will

258.506 -> be the future of the treatment of advanced heart disease

263.396 -> and also in the foreseeable future having devices

268.266 -> that are fully implantable.

271.196 -> That is the key.

272.636 -> Having a device that is fully implantable

274.746 -> where there is no longer an electrical wire that exits

278.946 -> out of the body because any foreign body

283.586 -> that leaves the body and disrupts the integrity

287.016 -> of the skin and of the body is a risk for infection

290.766 -> and so making a device that's fully implanted would truly be

295.326 -> revolutionary and a game changer.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE4jgaRWCzM