Ventricular-Assist Devices Help Restore Heart Function

A new study has found that left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) can return heart function to normal and eliminate the need for a heart transplant.

Researchers from Imperial College London (UK) and the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust (London, UK) gave a combination therapy of LVAD and drugs--such as lisinopril, carvedilol, spironolactone, and losartan in the first stage of treatment and bisoprolol and clenbuterol in the second--which encourage reverse remodeling of the heart, prevent atrophy, and prevent the heart from shrinking beyond its desirable size. The drugs used were given to 15 patients with very severe heart failure while they awaited transplantation.

Of these 15, 11 recovered. Of these, 88% were free from recurrence of heart disease five years later. Their quality of life was measured as being at nearly normal. The study was published in the November 2,006, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine

"This therapy has the potential to ease the pressure on the waiting list while also offering patients a better alternative to a donor heart--their own, healthy heart,” said lead author Dr Emma Birks. "Donor heart transplant has for many years been the gold standard in the treatment of those with severe heart failure. It has proven greatly successful but is not without its shortcomings--particularly the shortage of donor hearts and the risk of organ rejection.”

"The study also highlights the fact that ‘end stage' heart failure can be reversed and that the heart has the capacity to regenerate itself. It therefore stimulates the search for other strategies and more therapeutic targets in this expanding field of regenerative therapy,” added co-author Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub.

LVADs work by being connected to the left ventricle of the heart, either directly or by a tube. They remove oxygen rich blood from the left ventricle and take the blood to a mechanical pump, which then pumps the oxygen rich blood into another tube which is connected to the aorta. Once blood is in the aorta, it can be transported to the rest of the body.






Related Links:
Imperial College London
Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust