A short-term ventricular assist device recently approved in the US can be inserted in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, sparing some patients the risks associated with open-chest surgery.

The TandemHeart PTVAR device can assume 85 percent of left ventricular pumping function for periods ranging from several hours to more than a week.
The new device, a small, six-bladed centrifugal impeller, is inserted into the left atrium via the femoral artery in the hospital’s cardiac catheterization laboratory. By pumping oxygenated blood into the arterial circulation at a rate of four liters per minute, the assist device dramatically reduces the workload of the left ventricle.

The internal device is connected by thin tubes to a small, lightweight pump that remains outside the body. The system’s power supply unit, mounted on a portable cart, is controlled and monitored by a primary and backup microprocessor.

Although the device has been left in place for up to three weeks in Europe, it is approved for short-term use in the United States and is not intended to replace surgically implanted ventricular assist devices, which are used as a bridge to recovery or a bridge to transplantation for days, weeks, months or even years.