With 2,500 heart transplants performed each year in the United States and 60,000 people having end-stage heart disease, the breakthrough device offers a tremendous outlook for these patients, Dr. Slaughter explains. The HeartMate has revolutionized the way surgeons perform transplants, taking patients on the brink of death and giving them time to build up their strength in preparation for a heart transplant, he says. Developed by Thermo Cardiosystems Inc. of Woburn Mass., the HeartMate system can give patients two years or more to wait for a donor heart. Because of the attached power console, HeartMate patients are required to stay in the hospital while awaiting transplant. The device has a 30-minute battery that allows patients to take walks down the hospital corridor, pushing a cart.
Patients also exercise and undergo physical therapy to build up their stamina.
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people are potential candidates for heart transplants annually in the United States. Because the supply of donor hearts is limited, some heart patients must wait over a year before one becomes available. About 20 percent of qualified heart transplant candidates die waiting. Christ Hospital is among the first 70 centers nationwide, and one of four centers in Chicago, to implant the HeartMate system. Christ Hospital s cardiovascular surgical programs are the largest in Illinois, with more than 1,000 adult and 400 pediatric open heart surgeries performed in 1997.