Heart assist device helps kids awaiting transplant

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Mechanical appliances called
ventricular assist devices or VADs, designed to take over part
of the work done by the heart, successfully bridge the waiting
period for many kids needing a heart transplant, according to a
new report. In recent years, the success rate has climbed to 86
percent.

“Bridging over 85 percent of patients successfully is
really encouraging,” Dr. Elizabeth D. Blume, from Children’s
Hospital Boston, said in a statement. “It shows that, despite
the fact that none of these devices were designed specifically
for children, a group of smaller patients can take advantage of
the adult technology and do as well, if not better.”

VADs have been used successfully in adults to bridge the
gap to heart transplantation, but there are only limited data
involving children.

In the new study, reported in the American Heart
Association’s journal Circulation, the researchers assessed the
outcomes of 99 children who were awaiting heart transplantation
between January 1993 and December 2003 and were given a VAD.

The average duration of VAD support was 57 days, and ranged
from 1 to 465 days. Seventy patients were supported by a
long-term device.

Overall, 77 percent of patients were successfully supported
until they could undergo heart transplantation, but as
mentioned, the rate climbed to 86 percent in the last four
years of the study.

Seventeen patients died while awaiting a transplant. The
risk for dying was greatest in the first two weeks after
receiving a VAD.

“This study provides important insight into the field of
mechanical circulatory support for pediatric patients,”
editorialists Dr. David Rosenthal and Dr. Daniel Bernstein,
from Stanford University in California, said in a statement.

“Using mechanical intervention in more children will pay
off in the ability to save the lives of children with advanced
heart failure who now die waiting for a suitable donor.”

SOURCE: Circulation, May 16, 2006.