In this paper, the first ventricular assist device (VAD) developed in Russia is described. This device is used to replace the function of left ventricle for patients with an acute heart failure. Basis of this VAD is the axial-flow pump, that assists a left ventricle pump blood to the aorta.
For a long time, the transplantation of a donor heart has been the main method for treating the patients in cases of congenital heart defect or chronic heart failure, but even this method has a lot of problems of its own.
Artificial ventilation of the heart has beenused in medicine for a long time, but only recently a reliable replacement forstationary devices has been discovered. Every year the idea of artificial humanblood circulation is expanded and improved.
Every year more than 3000 hearttransplant operations take place in more than 330 clinics around the world. Newmethods and solutions for treating the heart conditions arise constantly. Sohow does the heart transplant operation happen?
Heart failure is a very dangerous conditionthat can lead to grave consequences. So it is very important to discover thecondition at its early stages.
Imagine: all your life the heart doesn’t stopworking, even for a second. And if it stops, your life stops with it. But youdon’t usually notice your heart at work until it starts to fail. Alcohol,smoking, diabetes, excess weight, stress – all of this can cause heartdiseases. People who had heart attack or heart surgery must know that there isa very high risk of heart failure in their cases.
Imagine: all your life the heart doesn’t stopworking, even for a second. And if it stops, your life stops with it. But youdon’t usually notice your heart at work until it starts to fail. Alcohol,smoking, diabetes, excess weight, stress – all of this can cause heartdiseases. People who had heart attack or heart surgery must know that there isa very high risk of heart failure in their cases.
We want to tell you more about Sputnik LVAD, heart transplantation and some problems in this field. These are main purposes to create this section of articles.
Topics will be complicated and controversial. We want to talk about not only practical terms – moral aspects are very important too.