New device proves heartening for HUP transplant patients

Like many heart transplant patients, 43-year-old Duke Grant was forced to wait more than five months for a donor to became available at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. But while most patients typically remain hospitalized until the operation, Grant was able to live at home with his wife and children this summer, thanks to an experimental heart pumping device. Grant was the first patient in the Delaware Valley to go home with a left ventricular assist device, which allowed him to lead a "somewhat normal life" of movies and baseball games, while walking up to 2.5 miles per day and doing regular weight-lifting. "You just can't get that kind of exercise in the hospital," he said. Because the LVAD weighs only two pounds and is easily transportable, the device has been hailed as a vast improvement over older, heavier heart-pumping mechanisms that require patients to remain connected to hospital machinery. "This device not only helps extend patients' lives, but also allows them to rehabilitate so that they are better able to tolerate the heart transplant surgery when it finally does occur," HUP Cardiac Transplant Program Director Michael Acker said. Since the device allowed Grant to exercise in the months prior to his October 7 heart transplant, he withstood the surgery better than patients who remain bedridden during the waiting period, according Acker. He was able to get out of bed the day after his operation and was discharged after only two weeks -- as compared to the four to six weeks most heart transplant patients must remain in the hospital, according to Cardiac Transplant Program Medical Director Evan Loh. Although Grant's wife, a registered nurse, and other family members took care of him this summer, Grant said he now expects to be able to get along without help. "I have my freedom back now," he said. He added that the LVAD has given him an "improved outlook on life." But the device is still in the "investigational" stage and pending approval by the federal Food and Drug Administration, Acker said. HUP and Temple University's hospital are the only area facilities currently providing transplant patients with the LVAD, but Acker predicted that the device will see increased use in the future. "Once the safety has been established for people at home, you will see the same device being used as a permanent assist device for people who perhaps are not transplant candidates or cannot get a heart," he said. Approximately 16,000 Americans under the age of 56 need heart transplants each year, according to the American Heart Association.

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