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(Rui Vieira/PA)
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Helping blood to
circulate using a mechanical pump can overcome heart failure and lead some
patients to make a full recovery, a study has shown.
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| Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) implant diagram. Image credit: 123RF |
Two
fifths of a group of trial participants fitted with one of the £80,000
battery-operated devices ended up showing no sign of heart disease.
Lead
researcher Dr Djordje Jakovljevic, from the Institute of Cellular Medicine at
the University of Newcastle, said: “We talk about these devices as a
bridge-to-transplant, something which can keep a patient alive until a heart is
available for transplantation.
“However,
we knew that sometimes patients recover to such an extent that they no longer
need a heart transplant.
“For
the first time, what we have shown is that heart function is restored in some
patients – to the extent that they are just like someone healthy who has never
had heart disease. In effect, these devices can be a bridge to full recovery in
some patients.”
The
pump, known as a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), helps the main pumping
chamber of the heart to push blood around the body.
LVADs
are typically implanted in patients who have reached the end stage of heart
failure, a seriously debilitating condition that occurs when the heart is too
weak to pump blood effectively.
The
trial involved 58 male patients who underwent treadmill tests of their heart
fitness.
Of
the 16 who recovered enough to have their LVAD pump removed, 38% demonstrated a
heart function equal to that of a healthy individual of the same age.
The
team included researchers from Newcastle, Cambridge, Leeds, London and Louisville,
US, who are looking for markers of early heart recovery which might help
identify patients most likely to benefit from having an LVAD.
Co-author
Professor Stephan Schueler, a consultant cardiac surgeon at Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “In most cases the device reverses the
symptoms of heart failure so that patients feel less short of breath and with
less fatigue.
“In
a smaller proportion of patients there is actually an improvement in heart
function so that the pump can be disconnected or explanted.”
The research is published
in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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