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Mercy General Hospital is the first hospital in the Sacramento region to successfully use the TandemHeart® circulatory support system to stabilize patients who have suffered an acute cardiac event, such as following heart after heart attack or heart surgery. The TandemHeart System is a short-term Percutaneous Ventricular Assist Device (pVAD) that can take over a large part of the pumping work normally done by the heart, helping to stabilize patients who have suffered a cardiac event.
How does it work? It is used when patients need additional support to assist with blood flow throughout the body. TandemHeart keeps a patient's circulatory system working and can reduce potential damage to other organs.
The TandemHeart system, developed by CardiacAssist Inc., is threaded into position through blood vessels to temporarily assist the heart's pumping function, helping deliver oxygenated blood to the body's vital organs to prevent further tissue damage. It can be placed rapidly by either interventional cardiologists in a cath lab or by cardiac surgeons in an operating room to provide short-term circulatory support to patients requiring additional cardiac assistance.
TandemHeart is now being used in nearly 90% of the "Best U.S. Heart & Heart Surgery Hospitals" as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, with nearly 1,800 procedures performed at nearly 150 hospitals across the United States.
What are the benefits? TandemHeart differs from other assist devices in that it can be inserted either by cardiovascular surgeons in the operating room or by cardiologists in the cardiac catheterization lab. TandemHeart provides short-term support, ranging from a few hours up to 14 days, giving the patient's heart time to heal and strengthen and regain function.
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