Electronic components are worn on a belt or carried in a shoulder bag. The action by the FDA will not only improve the quality of life for patients, but also has the potential to reduce health care costs. This clearly represents another important step forward in our program.
Patients can sometimes wait months for a heart transplant.
Now, by discharging them, they will be able to live in a more comfortable environment. The FDA approval may also make transplantation less expensive since the cost of the Novacor is relatively small compared to that of an extended hospital stay. According to Dr. Kormos, the FDA approval bodes well for the future of artificial heart research. This is a stepping-stone toward the acknowledgement by the FDA that heart pumps may be an alternative to heart transplantation in the future. The technology has progressed so that in Europe patients implanted with the Novacor heart pump already return to work, as many heart transplant recipients do in this country.