SAN DIEGO, June 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Results of a clinical
research study at Sharp Memorial Hospital indicate that patients 70
years of age or older have good functional recovery,
survival and quality of life at two years when
undergoing left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy for heart
failure.  The study was released in the June 21 edition of the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110628/LA27443)

The study’s lead author, Robert M. Adamson, MD, medical director
of the cardiac transplantation program at Sharp Memorial, and
colleagues concluded that LVAD therapy should be considered an
“attractive option” for some patients, and that advanced age alone
should not determine whether or not a patient receives LVAD
support.  The research team also noted that “very good results
can be achieved in a community hospital setting with a focused
effort from a dedicated team.”

Patients in the study were implanted with Thoratec’s HeartMate
II LVAD, which received FDA approval for bridge to transplantation
therapy in April 2008 and for destination therapy in January 2010
for transplant-ineligible heart-failure patients.  At Sharp
Memorial, which serves as a Thoratec training site, the transplant
team has implanted nearly 130 HeartMate II devices.  The
physicians and staff there have been working together since the
1980s and performed San Diego’s first heart transplant in 1985.
 Since then, the team has performed more than 340 heart
transplants and numerous implant procedures.  They also have
the longest LVAD-supported patient in the world, who first received
the device more than nine years ago in March 2002.  

“With an increasing population of elderly patients with advanced
heart failure who have limited treatment options, the FDA’s
approval of LVAD therapy make sense f

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