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LVAD to be Studied as an Alternative to Heart Transplantation

NEW YORK · October 15, 1997 · by TNN Medical Reporter Virginia Baskerville

Over the past decade, ventricular assist devices have come into use as a bridge to recovery following heart surgery or as a bridge to a transplant while patients await a donor heart. The first ventricular assist devices, which were pneumatically driven, have FDA approval. Newer, electrically powered devices that allow patients to be considerably more mobile, are available on an investigational basis. Over the next few months, the FDA is expected to consider approval of the HeartMate by Thermo Cardiosystems, Inc., an electrically powered left ventricular assist device, as a bridge to a transplant.

Now, researchers are planning the next step: to use HeartMate as an alternative to a transplant. They plan to study the electrically driven HeartMate as destination therapy in patients with end-stage congestive heart failure who are not eligible for a transplant. The two-year REMATCH (Randomized Evaluation of Mechanical Assistance Therapy for Congestive Heart Failure) Trial has enrolled about 10 patients and is looking for another 120 candidates for the trial's November launch. REMATCH, which is expected to last two years, is being conducted at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, and a number of additional centers that are expected to be added later this year.

Physicians who are interested in enrolling patients should contact Columbia-Presbyterian's Ventricular Assist Program at the address listed below.

For Your Information:

• Ventricular Assist Program
  7-435 Milstein Hospital Building, 177 Ft. Washington Ave., New York, NY 10032
  212-305-6003 (phone); 212-305-2439 (fax)
  catanes@cucis.cis.columbia.edu

• REMATCH Home Page
  http://cait.cpmc.columbia.edu/dept/vap/rematch.html

• Thermo Cardiosystems Inc.
  470 Wildwood Street, PO Box 2697, Woburn, MA 01888-2697
  617-932-8668 (phone); 617-933-4476 (fax)
  http://www.thermo.com/subsid/tca.html

• Ventricular Assist Devices: Frequently Asked Questions
  http://www.sts.org/education/faqs/faqvassist.html

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