Jarvik 2000® Clinical Trials Participant Goes Home

David Lancaster is "ringing out" of St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, a type of good luck tradition for heart transplant patients. The inscription on the bell reads, "My transplant's done, this course is run, and now I'm on my way."

After being sustained with a heart pump for 51 days while waiting for a donor heart, a patient at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital received a new heart and returned home last month, just in time for his 31st birthday.

David Lancaster is the second participant in the Jarvik 2000 clinical trails, a study conducted by the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's to assess the effectiveness of the Jarvik 2000 left ventricular assist device. The Jarvik 2000 bought Lancaster the time he needed until a donor heart could be located.

"When I got the Jarvik pump, I knew my wait for a heart was nearly over. I truly felt I would get one before my birthday, and I did," said Lancaster, who celebrated his birthday on August 15.

A native of Lubbock, Texas, Lancaster has a family history of heart disease and has been battling heart problems most of his life. In 1976 he underwent surgery for the repair of a defect in his heart, and in the early 1980's, doctors implanted a permanent pacemaker. Over the years he developed cardiomyopathy, and in 1997 he was evaluated as a candidate for a heart transplant. He was then put on the waiting list.

Last year, Lancaster began to have problems breathing at night and had to sleep sitting up. He noticed increasing fatigue earlier this year and found walking difficult. He was then admitted to St. Luke's in May and received the Jarvik 2000 on June 13.

To be eligible for the study, a patient must have end-stage heart failure and be on the transplant waiting list. About the size of a "C" battery, the Jarvik 2000 is a valveless, electrically powered miniature axial flow pump that pushes oxygenated blood throughout the body at a rate of up to six liters per minute (at rest, the natural heart pumps three to six liters per minute).

Unlike many other pumps that require the conventional opening of the chest through the sternum, the Jarvik 2000 is implanted through a less-invasive incision on the left side of the chest and requires use of a heart-lung machine for a shorter amount of time. It fits directly into the left ventricle, which may lessen problems with clotting. The outflow graft connects to the descending aorta behind the heart. The device itself is non-pulsatile, but the natural heart continues to beat and provides a pulse.

"Once again, the heart-assist device perofrmed well and helped improve Mr. Lancaster's health, increasing his chances of a better prognosis after transplant," said Dr. O.H. Frazier, chief of cardiopulmonary transplantation and director of surgical research at the Texas Heart Institute and chief of transplant service at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital.

The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is the only cardiovascular center in the U.S. conducting these clinical trials of the Jarvik 2000, which has been granted an initial investigational device exemption. Jarvik Heart, Inc., and the Texas Heart Institute have been developing the Jarvik 2000 for more than ten years.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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