The State : ‘Interim’ Heart Use Approved

UC Irvine Medical Center has received federal permission to use a new “interim artificial heart” and is the only medical center in the Los Angeles-Orange counties area with such capability. The Acute Ventricular Assist Device (AVAD), a plastic pump that functions temporarily as a substitute heart, remains outside the body, with plastic tubes connecting the real heart to the artificial one, which takes over most of the work. Dr. Richard Ott, director of the Cardiac Transplantation Program at the center, said the device will have many uses, including serving as a temporary heart for patients recovering from open-heart bypass surgery.