Patients and experts from Stony Brook Heart Institute's Left Ventricular Assist Device Program (LVAD) gathered on June 15 to celebrate over 13 years of lifesaving heart care. (The 10-year event was postponed in early 2020 due to Covid-19.)
Stony Brook Heart Institute’s Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) Program became in April 2010 the first such program in Suffolk County to implant this lifesaving device. An LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, is a surgically implanted, battery powered pump that, by supporting the lower left ventricle (the heart’s main pumping chamber), helps a failing heart to do its job more efficiently. The LVAD can be used as an intermediary step before heart transplantation—a “bridge’ to transplantation—or, in patients who, due to advanced age or medical condition are not transplant candidates, as a long-term “destination” device.
“Nobody knew when we began putting in heart pumps 13 years ago that they would be this durable and reliable,” said Allison McLarty, MD, Surgical Director of the LVAD program. "This amazing device has revolutionized the management of advanced heart failure.”
“For the LVAD team, there is the immense reward of seeing these extraordinary individuals return to their homes and families with a much better quality of life,” added Marc Goldschmidt, MD, Director, Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy Center and Medical Director, Ventricular Device Program.
“An LVAD program at Stony Brook Heart Institute has been a tremendous asset for both the community and the hospital. Patients with the most complex heart conditions have access right here, close to home, to all the state-of-the-art services they need,” said Hal Skopicki, MD, PhD, Co-Director, Stony Brook Heart Institute and Chief of Cardiology.
Patients celebrated their own personal heart care journey as well as the LVAD program’s anniversary. Ten of the 25 patients who attended have a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and 15 received a heart transplant after having been treated with an LVAD as a “bridge to transplant.” Family and friends of the patients, as well as Heart Institute physicians, nurses and other clinical staff from the LVAD program attended the celebratory event.
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