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The Cleveland Clinic

Heart Failure: Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)

What is a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)?

The left ventricular assist device, or LVAD or VAD, is a kind of mechanical heart. It's placed inside a person's chest, where it helps the heart pump oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.

Unlike an artificial heart, the LVAD doesn't replace the heart. It just helps it do its job. This can mean the difference between life and death for a person whose heart needs a rest after open-heart surgery, or for a person waiting for a heart transplant.

Now, VADs play another role, allowing weakened hearts to recover. A permanent LVAD is currently being used in some terminally ill patients whose condition makes them ineligible for heart transplantation. This is also called destination therapy.

In studies, therapy with the permanent LVAD device doubled the one-year survival rate of patients with end-stage heart failure as compared with drug treatment alone. However, there were some risks including infection, stroke and bleeding.

Left Ventricular Assist Device




Next: How does an LVAD work? »

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Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)

Heart Failure »

What Is Heart Failure?

Heart failure does not mean the heart has stopped working. Rather, it means that the heart's pumping power is weaker than normal. With heart failure, blood moves through the heart and body at a slower rate, and pressure in the heart increases. As a result, the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body's needs. The chambers of the heart respond by stretching to hold more blood to pump through the body or by becoming more stiff and thickened. This helps to keep the blood moving for a short while, but in time, the heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. As a result, the kidneys often respond by causing the body to retain fluid (water) and sodium. If fluid builds up in the arms, legs, ankles, feet, lungs or other organs, the body becomes congested, and congestive heart failure is the term used to describe the condition.

What Causes Heart Failure?

Heart failure is caused b...

Read the Heart Failure article »


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