Friday, July 18, 2008

Shanice

A VAD or a ventricular assist device is a device used to take over the role of the failing heart. It is not used to replace the heart, but simply to just to pump blood throughout the body. Some people use the VAD short term for recovering from a heart attack or for recovering from a surgery. Others use the VAD for long term use to use while waiting for a heart transplant. The first ventricle assist device was invented about 25 years ago by a man name Robert Jarvik. The first VADs were very heavy and bulky but could up about 10 liters of blood a minute.

VADs can be used to take over the right ventricle, the left ventricle and in some cases it is used to take over both ventricles. There are two types of pumps used in a VAD. First there is a pulsatile pump, which pumps blood through the body with a normal pulsing action then there is are centrifugal pumps that just sent the blood throughout the body continuously without a pulse. The centrifugal pump is recognized as the second generation of pumps because they are simpler than the pulsatile pump and it is smaller and more reliable.

3 comments:

Carissa said...

Very interesting about how the first VADs were bulky and could pump up to 10 liters of blood per minute.
Good job!

NatG said...

Good job! I really like how you talked about the history of the VAD. Interesting.

David Mantilla said...

Its funny to hear this man's name, Robert Jarvik, in context with the some of the most complex machinery that exists to date. It was great of you to have clarified your statement about the use of VADs as replacements for the heart. As you stated, they are temporary, and so it it is interesting to see our inability as scientists and doctors to create a device that could ever fully replace the heart. Overall this was a very well written article, and it piqued my interest.