Implantation of a ventricular assist device may aid in weight loss for obese patients awaiting a heart transplant
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 23:22
in Health & Medicine
For patients who are awaiting a heart transplant, Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD) can literally mean the difference between life and death -- helping the patient's own weakened heart to continue pumping until a suitable donor organ becomes available. In a new study, doctors note that in addition to assisting the patient's own heart, LVADs can aid obese heart transplant patients in weight reduction. Weight loss in such patients is important because just as obesity is a risk factor for heart failure, it also is associated with poor outcomes after a heart transplant. It is therefore considered a relative contra-indication for transplant.