Heart Pump

[Debster]

Hello! I was just curious-I have not read much (thank God!) about anyone needing to be on a heart pump before their surgery. My mom was because her heart was so weak before her valve job-did anyone else have this issue? It is basically a pump inside the heart to assist it until it can pump effectively on its own... Thanks! Deb

 

[Jkm7]

I was on a balloon heart pump for four days before my first OHS. I had to lay flat with very small incline at the top of my bed in CICU. If I had accidentally forgotten and sat up, there was a good chance of breaking the balloon and that would be very dangerous. When I woke from surgery, I was still on the pump but they slowly weaned me off it and completely removed it a day or two later.

It was not pleasant but it relieved the load on my heart until I was well enough to endure surgery.

They kept me quite medicated to keep me still and not stressed. I was pretty ill so my memory of it all is not that clear.

 

[Adrienne]

My father (who is now deceased) who had a massive heart attack in 1991 was on a balloon pump for almost a week before they would perform his quintuple bypass.

 

[catwoman]

Debster:

I believe several people here have had LVADs (left ventricular assistance devices, I believe) pre-op, sometimes for several months.

 

[laurad37]

Didn't know there was such a thing... Wow, technology, it's amazing what they can do no adays.

 

[Debster]

It's not common to use a Balloon Pump, but some who got to surgery "just in time" have been put on a Balloon Pump to "take the load off their heart and give it a chance to rest" before surgery.

Exactly Al-if anyone was "just in time" it was my mom!
I did not know sometimes people have been on them for months..... Deb

 

[ALCapshaw2]

It's not common to use a Balloon Pump, but some who got to surgery "just in time" have been put on a Balloon Pump to "take the load off their heart and give it a chance to rest" before surgery.

 

[Ross]

Dr. McCarthy has been working on a pump for quite a while now. Wonder if he's ever finished it?

 

[Jkm7]

It's not common to use a Balloon Pump, but some who got to surgery "just in time" have been put on a Balloon Pump to "take the load off their heart and give it a chance to rest" before surgery.

That's what they explained to me, Al. They said my heart needed to rest in order for me to have the strength to endure the surgery. It was in question whether they could or would operate. Without the surgery, I would not have survived long term. I still remember the technician whose job it was to keep careful watch over the pump. He monitored it extremely closely and I was so fortunate he was the most professional, pleasant young man who made a near intolerable situation as bearable as possible. We became 'great buddies'. When they moved me to the OR, he was at my bedside the whole time, like we were 'attached at the hip'. He was the one who had to apply the pressure when the pump was removed from the artery....not unlike with a cath.

I do not believe the Balloon Pump can be used for more than maybe two weeks or so. While very useful it carries risk.

 

[Lynlw]

Balloon pumps and VADS (ventricular assist devices) usually LVADS (left ventricle) are different things. The balloon is very temp in the hospital I think you have to stay in bed, be careful of the leg with they use for the cath ect. and VADS are portable things (I believe Brian had a VAD?) and are usually used in people waiting for heart transplants

 

[Jkm7]

Yes, with a balloon pump, you definitely have to stay in bed and just about flat. I was permitted only a slight angle to the head of my bed. No movement or activity as the risk of bursting the balloon is very real.

The pump was not placed in the cath lab but rather they brought me to an operating room though it was placed by cath method through the groin. It was an emergency situation and I'm grateful I was brought to Mass General and got such wonderful care.

 

[swim mom]

I know a 9 year old girl from here was at Shands in Gainesville for several months this year with a Berlin heart pump while she waited for a transplant.

 

[briansmom]

Brian had an LVAD for 9 months. They implanted the LVAD because his heart stopped beating when they tried to repair the dissection and put in a new valve. At the time we were told he would need a heart transplant. He came home from the hospital with a computer cable coming out of his abdomen. The cable was attached to a small computer (about the size of a very large belt buckle) and the computer was attached either to two batteries (about 1/2 the size of a brick each) or plugged into regular house power. Brian's heart recovered enough to take the LVAD out. He was the first person in the USA to have this done. Since then there have probably been at least a dozen more patients that have had them removed.

In reference to another thread. I definitely consider Brian (and me) to be heroes. He has broken new ground medically speaking and paved the way for those who have come after him.