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Surgical Procedure

NOTE: The specific technique used to implant a cardiac assist device will vary according to the individual patient and the device selected. The following description of the implantation of a Thoratec HeartMate II® provides a basic overview of the procedure.

TheThoratec HeartMate II® is approved as both a bridge-to-transplantation and a destination therapy.

Implanting an assist device requires open-heart surgery and lasts from four to eight hours, on average. The surgeon first makes a long incision from the top-center of the patient's chest down to the abdomen. The length of the incision depends on a patient's body size. The HeartMate II is implanted just below the patient's diaphragm in the abdomen. A small incision is also made in the lower abdomen to allow the HeartMate driveline to exit the body.

While the surgeon connects the LVAD to the heart, the patient is placed on a heart-lung bypass machine, which takes over the work of the patient's heart and lungs. One tube connects the LVAD pump to the left ventricle of the heart, while another returns to the blood from the pump to the aorta. A small electric motor within the device runs the pump.

Once the device is implanted, the tube exiting a patient's abdomen is connected to the controller. The controller is connected in turn to the power base. After confirming that the LVAD is functioning properly, the patient is taken off heartlung bypass, the incision is closed, and bandages are applied to the incision and the driveline exit site.