If you need a heart transplant, a ventricular assist device (VAD) can help your heart work while you wait. It can also give you a better quality of life.
UPMC offers a range of treatments for people with severe heart failure, including the latest and most advanced VADs.
A VAD is a mechanical device that helps the heart pump blood to the body.
VADs most often provide support to the left ventricle, the major pumping chamber of the heart. But they can also support both the right and left chambers of the heart.
Doctors can implant a VAD into the chest where some parts of the device stay outside the body.
At UPMC, we often use VADs as a bridge to heart transplant when medical treatment or surgery are no longer options.
Once implanted, a VAD sustains your heart while you wait for your transplant. It lets you live a more normal life outside the hospital while you wait for your new heart.
Doctors also use VADs:
Since those early days, UPMC's Artificial Heart Program has become one of the most active of its kind.
UPMC’s doctors have:
The team at the UPMC Artificial Heart Program assesses each person to design a treatment plan based on their unique needs.
Our team includes:
Working together, the artificial heart experts:
Learn more about VADs at the UPMC Artificial Heart Program.
To contact the UPMC Heart Transplant Program, please call 412-648-6202 or toll-free at 844-548-4591. You can also fill out the UPMC Heart Transplant Program contact form to make an appointment or refer a patient.
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