The Texas Heart Institute is a world leader in the development, testing and application of heart assist devices. Our goal for the surgical research conducted here is to develop and determine the best assist device to use for each individual patient. Devices may be referred to as mechanical assist devices, ventricular assist devices (VAD), or left ventricular assist devices (LVAD).

The adjacent list describes devices currently in use at THI as well as those of historical interest.

 

"The devices we've been developing and testing are either ventricular assist devices or artificial hearts. They are all pumps of some type, but they each work differently for a specific function," explains Dr. Frazier, who has been instrumental in the development of many of the devices.

See also on this website:

•  $1.5 million NIH grant awarded
Principal investigators, Drs. Igor Gregoric, Emerson Perin, and Biswajit Kar will lead the study of adult stem cells and heart assist devices as combined therapy for heart failure. (May 5, 2010)

•  New HeartMate II pump is latest bridge to life
Texas Heart Institute's Dr. Roberta Bogaev is quoted in this USA TODAY article (February 16, 2010).

•  FDA Approves Heart Assist Device for Permanent Treatment of Advanced Heart Failure
The FDA approved a continuous-flow heart-assist device pioneered at the Texas Heart Institute for use as a permanent treatment for advanced heart failure. (News release January 21, 2010)

•  Heart Assist Device benefits 21 year old cardiomyopathy patient
View Fox 26 news interview (5:15 min. video) with cardiologist Stephanie Coulter, MD and heart failure patient Allyssa Smith. (December 2009)

•  $4.1M Grant for Total Artificial Heart Study
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $4.1 million grant to THI to determine the effect of pulseless blood flow on bodily functions. (News release August 19, 2009)

•  $2.8 Million Grant to Develop Total Artificial Heart
A National Institutes of Health grant to Texas Heart Institute will fund development of a novel “pulse-less” total artificial heart. (News release June 12, 2008)

•  HeartMate II Approved as Advanced-Stage Heart Failure Treatment Option
THI played a significant role in clinical studies leading to FDA approval of left-ventricular assist device as a bridge-to-transplantation therapy. (News release April 24, 2008)

•  Patient Recovers Heart Function with Mechanical Assist Device
ABC Good Morning America: (6 min. video) Report features the successful removal of an experimental heart assist device that supported Salina Gonzales until she regained function in her failing heart. Drs. Roberta Bogaev and Bud Frazier are featured. (April 2008 and followup May 2009)

•  A news story, "New Generation of Pumps a Blessing for Sick Hearts," featuring Dr. Bud Frazier was published in the Houston Chronicle–August 30, 2007.

•  Read the story of Peter Houghton and his 7 years with a permanent heart assist device.

•  View the 5-minute video interview with Dr. Reynolds Delgado discussing the TandemHeart™ in Clinical Practice.

•  Physicians can refer to the online presentation available on the THI CME site, Frontiers in Mechanical Support Devices, posted in March 2008 as part of the Clinical Update 2008 course.

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Updated May 2010