I recently saw a patient who had a percutaneous left ventricular assist device placed called a Tandem Heart. A catheter is threaded from the femoral vein into the left atrium (via interatrial puncture) and oxygenated blood is withdrawn and returned to the femoral artery. The official web site is here. A Google Scholar search is here. A large animation file (47 MB) is here. A smaller shockwave animation is here. From a paper in Circulation:
A newly developed VAD can be rapidly deployed in the catheterization laboratory setting. This device provides up to 4.0 L/min of assisted cardiac output, which may aid to revert cardiogenic shock. The left ventricle is unloaded by diverting blood from the left atrium to the systemic circulation, making recovery more likely after an ischemic event. The influence of this device on long-term prognosis warrants further investigation.Technorati Tags: Tandem Heart, TandemHeart, Left Ventricular Assist Device, Heart Failure, LVAD, VAD
