A Quebec woman is the first Canadian to test a new heart pump that is expected to significantly reduce the risk of stroke, making her Valentine's Day especially sweet.In December, doctors at McGill University Health Centre installed a C-Pulse cuff on 54-year-old Lauza Legere's aorta to pump oxygen through her body.
The cuff moves blood by rhythmically squeezing her aorta, something Legere's body wasn't doing properly since her August heart attack. Dr. Renzo Cecere of McGill University Health Centre in Montreal implants a C-Pulse heart pump in Lauza Legere at the Royal Victoria Hospital on Dec. 21, 2010. Heart pumps are often temporarily implanted inside the aorta, the body's largest artery, but the C-Pulse is placed outside. The cuff then inflates and deflates with each heartbeat.
"I feel much better than before," Legere said in a telephone interview, explaining that before she got the pump it was hard to even take a breath. "I stopped every two or three words because I was out of breath. I wasn't able to walk. With the pump, it helps my heart to get the oxygen that I wasn't able to have."
The C-Pulse cuff offers many advantages over traditional heart pumps. There is no need to make incisions into the heart or any major blood vessels during the implantation of the device, which is run by an external battery and mini-computer. Both are worn on the outside of the body.
Patients also don't need to take anti-clotting medications after surgery to reduce the risk of stroke. That's largely because the pump has no contact with the patient's blood, eliminating the risk of clotting within the pump.
In addition, the device can be stopped and disconnected for a short period so the patient can take a shower or go for a brief swim. MUHC's Dr. Renzo Cecere, who performed the surgery, says Legere is the first person in Canada to get the device, which reduces blood clots that can cause strokes.
He is conducting trials on the pump and hopes to implant 12 devices in the next 18 months."We believe that a device like this is able to improve the blood flow at the level of the muscle of the heart, thereby improving the squeezing function, the pumping function of the heart," said Cecere, director of the Mechanical Heart Assist Program and surgical director of the MUHC's transplant program.
Cecere said there are likely thousands of patients who could benefit from the pump."This would be an effective therapy as a so-called bridge to transplant. Alternatively, some patients would receive this as what we call destination therapy — this is their last and only option," he said.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2011/02/14/health-heart-pump-quebec-lauza-legere.html#ixzz1DyC8652z
The cuff moves blood by rhythmically squeezing her aorta, something Legere's body wasn't doing properly since her August heart attack. Dr. Renzo Cecere of McGill University Health Centre in Montreal implants a C-Pulse heart pump in Lauza Legere at the Royal Victoria Hospital on Dec. 21, 2010. Heart pumps are often temporarily implanted inside the aorta, the body's largest artery, but the C-Pulse is placed outside. The cuff then inflates and deflates with each heartbeat.
"I feel much better than before," Legere said in a telephone interview, explaining that before she got the pump it was hard to even take a breath. "I stopped every two or three words because I was out of breath. I wasn't able to walk. With the pump, it helps my heart to get the oxygen that I wasn't able to have."
The C-Pulse cuff offers many advantages over traditional heart pumps. There is no need to make incisions into the heart or any major blood vessels during the implantation of the device, which is run by an external battery and mini-computer. Both are worn on the outside of the body.
Patients also don't need to take anti-clotting medications after surgery to reduce the risk of stroke. That's largely because the pump has no contact with the patient's blood, eliminating the risk of clotting within the pump.
In addition, the device can be stopped and disconnected for a short period so the patient can take a shower or go for a brief swim. MUHC's Dr. Renzo Cecere, who performed the surgery, says Legere is the first person in Canada to get the device, which reduces blood clots that can cause strokes.
He is conducting trials on the pump and hopes to implant 12 devices in the next 18 months."We believe that a device like this is able to improve the blood flow at the level of the muscle of the heart, thereby improving the squeezing function, the pumping function of the heart," said Cecere, director of the Mechanical Heart Assist Program and surgical director of the MUHC's transplant program.
Cecere said there are likely thousands of patients who could benefit from the pump."This would be an effective therapy as a so-called bridge to transplant. Alternatively, some patients would receive this as what we call destination therapy — this is their last and only option," he said.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2011/02/14/health-heart-pump-quebec-lauza-legere.html#ixzz1DyC8652z
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