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| Vol. 22, No. 20 |
| November 1, 2000 |
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Fourth Jarvik 2000 Clinical Trials Participant Implanted By MAUREEN KOVACIK Texas Heart Institute and CHRIS FERRIS St. Luke's Episcopal Health System St. Luke's Episcopal Health System Physicians at the Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital implanted a Jarvik 2000 left ventricular assist device into a fourth study participant, a 42-year-old man, on Wednesday, September 13. His doctors say his surgery went well and he is in stable condition. "As in the previous cases involving this device, the patient's surgery went smoothly," says 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. "One of the advantages of this device is that it is implanted through a less invasive incision on the left side of the chest, instead of through the sternum. This improves the patient's comfort and allows for a quicker recovery." 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). 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. It takes over the work of the failing heart allowing the native heart to function more normally. The native heart, therefore, provides a physiologic pulse. 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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