USC Cardiothoracic Surgeons are on the leading edge of incorporating the latest heart-assist devices into their practice.

Many of these innovative devices are designed to keep the heart functioning in a patient who has heart failure. Heart failure can occur for many reasons – congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, viruses, drugs or previous heart attacks. Some of these devices are used as a temporary solution before a patient undergoes a transplant, while others are used to help the patient’s heart become stronger.

We are one of only a few centers on the West Coast that offers a "bridge" to transplantation utilizing the ventricular assist device (VAD).

Heart-assist devices include:

• ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Machine)
• Medtronic Centrifugal Biopump
• Abiomed BVS 5000
• Thoratec Ventricular Assist Device
• HeartMate IP
• HeartMate xVE