Left Ventricular Assist Device
A Left Ventricular Assist Device or LVAD is a mechanical pump-type device that is surgically implanted in the left ventrical to assist the damaged or weakened heart in pumping blood.
Learn More about the Left Ventricular Assist Device and the Heart Center of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Heart Center physicians have been performing cardiac surgery since the 1940s, and helped to pioneer open-heart surgery in North Carolina beginning in the 1950s. Although our patients are increasingly older and with more severe disease, our results following surgery have remained impressive, largely due to improved techniques, equipment such as the left ventricular assist device, and postoperative care.
Our expertise in ventricular assist devices offers new hope to critically ill heart patients. Mechanical heart pumps, such as the left ventricular assist device, are being successfully used to keep patients alive until a donor heart can be found. One battery-powered model can be worn around the waist, allowing patients to leave the hospital while they wait for a transplant.
Learn more about the Heart Center of Wake Forest Baptist and our procedures involving a left ventricular assist device.