MUSCMedical LinksCharleston LinksArchivesMedical EducatorSpeakers BureauSeminars and EventsResearch StudiesResearch GrantsCatalyst PDF FileCommunity HappeningsCampus News

Return to Main Menu

Special pump helps heart transplant patients

by Michael Baker
Public Relations
Waiting for a heart transplant can be a terrifying, uncertain time, but the incorporation of sophisticated medical technology at MUSC is making the interim period easier for some patients.

While MUSC began using ventricular assist devices—special pumps that improve blood circulation—in 1995, the ABIOMED AB5000 is a relatively new addition to the field. ABIOMED launched the device in April, and thus far, MUSC owns the only AB5000 in South Carolina. But in contrast to its short period of availability, the device gives patients with heart-weakening illnesses the gift of time as they await treatment. 

Designed for patients whose hearts are too weak to pump blood throughout the body and are on the verge of failure. It supports the patient’s heart by temporarily assuming its functions until doctors can administer appropriate treatment.

Two kidney-sized chambers resting at the patient’s waistline act as pumps for the continuously circulating blood. Two tubes divert blood from the heart’s weakened pumping chambers into the device’s pumping chambers, where the blood is propelled downstream and re-enters the circulatory system.

According to Jack Crumbley, M.D., chief of the Thoracic Organ Transplantation Service, the device saves the heart from overexertion while improving or maintaining its functionality.

“For patients with cardiac muscular disease, the heart gets continually weaker. As it weakens, the heart grows larger and work less efficiently because a smaller heart can contract more efficiently than an enlarged heart can,” he explained. “Therefore, the heart must work harder and harder to circulate blood throughout the body, putting a great deal of stress on the muscle.”

Although the device uses an electrically powered, pneumatic pump, it also comes equipped with a dual-action hand pump in the event of power failure.

After receiving approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the device was first used at MUSC in the spring, when it aided the recovery of a coronary artery bypass patient. The patient was the world’s first long-term survivor of rescue with the AB5000.  Since then, the device touched the life of another MUSC patient.

Jenny* entered the Medical University Hospital in early September after her cardiac health began to deteriorate rapidly. She suffers from idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy; of the patients admitted to MUSC for heart transplants, about 45 percent enter the hospital due to complications from the disease, Crumbley said.

“The treatment of the disease has become so effective that cases like Jenny’s are becoming more common,” Crumbley said. “Patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy used to experience a gradual decline in health. Now, the dropoff is much more abrupt; a patient could feel relatively well one day before suddenly decompensating the next.”

Jenny fell into the latter group of patients, feeling worn but relatively stable compared to her health upon being admitted to MUSC. 

“Suddenly I was so sick,” she said. “It became a chore just to get out of my recliner at home.” Crumbley agreed, acknowledging that when Jenny entered the operating room, she was hours away from death.

Now, by the accounts of both doctor and patient, the AB5000 has Jenny back on track and feeling much better. “It’s kind of shocking, because I went so long without feeling well,” she said. “But everything works normally now.” The fresh-faced 28-year-old even joked with the nurses that she wants a “young heart, so I can hop around after the transplant.”

While the device doesn’t necessarily help her hop around, it has allowed Jenny to go outside and experience more of life. In fact, some people who used the device were able to play golf, jog and “exercise pretty vigorously” without significant limitations, according to Crumbley.

Jenny provided a definitive example of the AB5000’s importance, but Crumbley added that the device can be beneficial to patients whose situations aren’t quite as dire. In addition to aiding people awaiting heart transplants, the device also helps patients whose needs are more short-term.

“A man from Hilton Head entered the hospital with a virus that weakened his heart to where it was barely moving,” Crumbley recalled. “We put an ABIOMED device in for about a week and a half, and it allowed his heart to rest while his body fought off the infection. The resting period allowed his heart to function normally again, returning him to health.”

Whether for temporary recovery periods or to prolong life-threatening illnesses, ventricular assist devices places MUSC at the forefront of cardiac care.

“It’s just another way we can support people with cardiac problems,” Crumbley concluded.

*Name changed to protect privacy
 

Friday, Nov. 5, 2004
Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.