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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
A left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is an implantable mechanical pump that helps pump blood from the lower left chamber of your heart (the left ventricle) to the rest of your body. LVADs are used in people who have weakened hearts or heart failure.
You may have an LVAD implanted while you wait for a heart transplant or for your heart to become strong enough to effectively pump blood on its own. Your doctor may also recommend having an LVAD implanted as a long-term treatment if you have heart failure and you're not a good candidate for a heart transplant.
The procedure to implant an LVAD requires open-heart surgery and has serious risks. However, an LVAD can be lifesaving if you have severe heart failure.
- Heart failure. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Hf/HF_All.html. Accessed Nov. 10, 2009.
- Jessup M, et al. 2009 Focused update: ACCF/AHA guidelines for the diagnosis and management of heart failure in adults. Circulation. 2009;119:1977.
- Ventricular assist device. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/vad/vad_all.html. Accessed Dec. 9, 2009.
- Left ventricular assist device. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4599. Accessed Nov. 10, 2009.
- Slaughter MS, et al. Advanced heart failure treated with continuous-flow left ventricular assist device. New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;361:1.
- Mancini D, et al. Mechanical device-based methods of managing and treating heart failure. Circulation. 2005;112:438.
- Anscheim DD, et al. Innovation with experience using implantable left ventricular assist devices. Circulation: Heart Failure. 2009;2:1.
- Heart transplant. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/ht/ht_all.html. Accessed Dec. 14, 2000.
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