(Circulation. 2000;101:e9056.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Cardiovascular News |
Cardiovascular News
First US Implantation of DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device
Surgeons at Baylor College of Medicine performed the first US implantation of the miniature DeBakey ventricular assist device (VAD) June 7, 2000, on a 31-year-old woman at the Methodist Hospital in Houston. The brainchild of heart surgeons Michael E. DeBakey, MD, Baylor’s chancellor emeritus, and George Noon, MD, and developed with the help of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the assist pump appeared to be working well days after the operation took place.
Dr Noon implanted the device while Dr DeBakey watched. The device has already been implanted in 32 patients in Europe, where it is approved for use in 13 centers in 6 different countries. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave conditional approval for the first US use of the assist pump in late May. After 5 patients receive the pump, its developers and the company that owns the pump (Houston-based MicroMed Technologies) will have to answer a set of questions from the FDA. The agency will base its decision about expanded trials on the answers to those questions.
Dr DeBakey, who performed the first successful implantation of a left VAD in 1966, said he found the use of his new device "very gratifying." The pump is no bigger than a fountain pen and is battery powered. It weighs no more than 4 ounces, but it can pump as much as 8 liters of blood a minute.
The DeBakey VAD is an axial flow pump. A titanium inflow tube attached
to the apex of