Mate for the heart: pulsatile or continuous?

At the AHA meeting 2009 it was reported by the press media (and meanwhile published in the N Engl J Med by Slaughter et al., 3 December 2009), that a ‘new type of device more than doubles the two-year survival rate among heart failure patients. The new device, called HeartMate II, improves survival, is more durable, and is linked to better quality of life. The device works by pumping blood continuously rather than simulating a heart beat as older pumps do. The pump is connected to equipment outside the body – a small computer and batteries that the patient wears in a belt pack or harness using a wire from the patient’s abdomen. The FDA has approved the device only as a temporary bridge to transplant.’