The device, which has been successfully used in children younger than 5, takes over for a damaged heart and helps keep the patient alive as they wait for a long time until a donated organ is available, a study found.
Though children's pumps were already approved in Europe and other parts of the world, such devices were not available for children under the age of 5 in the U.S. Small enough to fit inside the patient's body, these pumps act like an alternate heart, boosting blood circulation and taking some of the burden off the damaged organ.
The pump helped keep eight out of nine severely ill children alive long enough to receive a heart transplant, U.S. researchers report on Monday. The youngest patient died from kidney damage that worsened after surgery to install the device.
All the others treated at Saint Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri received transplants after a gap of more than 2 months using the device, known as the Excor, and are doing well.
The manufacturers of these heart pumps include Berlin Heart GmbH, Thoratec Corp., World Heart Corp., Ventracor Ltd. and HeartWare Ltd. Results of the study were published in the current Cardiovascular Surgery Supplement of Circulation.
