MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATION - Medical Device Daily
MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATION - Medical Device Daily
MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATION - Medical Device Daily
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<strong>MEDICAL</strong> <strong>DEVICE</strong> <strong>INNOVATION</strong> 2010<br />
heart with one pump and the patient is doing well. So we’ve<br />
already seen that it works in a physiologic sense,” he said.<br />
Currently, his team is using commercially available<br />
pumps, but new technology is needed for a total heart<br />
replacement.<br />
“These grants are not for product development, but we<br />
need something like what was done for LVADS [left ventricular<br />
assist devices] in the 1970s and 1980s,” he said. “That<br />
would be the next important step. I would encourage<br />
device makers to get involved. Nobody I know is actually<br />
working on it. We’ve definitely established long-term survival<br />
without a pulse is not only feasible, it’s desirable if<br />
we’re making something to replace the heart. Now the technology<br />
will be the next challenge.”<br />
In addition to his team at THI, Frazier is collaborating<br />
with Thoratec (Pleasanton, California), Beth Israel<br />
Deaconess <strong>Medical</strong> Center (Boston) and Harvard <strong>Medical</strong><br />
School (Boston).<br />
(This story originally appeared in the Aug. 19, 2009, edition<br />
of <strong>Medical</strong> <strong>Device</strong> <strong>Daily</strong>)<br />
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