Until recently, these types of devices were implanted only to patients awaiting heart transplantation. It turned out that they ensure such a comfort of life for patients that they often resign from transplantation. Currently, this solution is often used as the target, until the patient’s end of life. Pump implantation is always possible in persons who do not qualify for transplantation due to their age.
An artificial ventricle is able to pump from 2.5 to 10 liters of blood per minute, which means that the patient is not only able to function properly, but also to take up sports. The pump is connected to an external device which feeds and monitors the operation of the entire system, which does not only identify alerts, but also carries out an ongoing storage of work, which is indispensable in diagnostics. The patient carries an external device in a dedicated case which can be worn under a sweater or a jacket. The pump itself is a levitating, a quickly rotating, self-centering rotor which is not installed on a mechanical bearing, but elevates in a housing on a system of magnets. The magnets hold the rotor in a desired position and drive it. The device may work in a stable speed mode – up to 4000 revolutions per minute or in an artificial pulse mode where the rotor rotation speed and the volume of blood is changed automatically.
This is the first implantation of such device at the University Clinical Centre of the Medical University of Warsaw. 40-50 such devices are implanted each year, mainly of the older generation. The needs are estimated at 200 implants per year.
Professor Mariusz Kuśmierczyk became the manager of the Cardiosurgery Clinic of the University Clinical Centre of the MUW in September of 2021 as a part of the strategy to create a strong transplantation center developed by rector Zbigniew Gaciong and the current management of the MUW. The first heart transplantations at the MUW were carried out in August at the Clinic.