Heart Failure Patient Receives University Medical Center’s First HeartMate II Ventricular Assist Device
July 18, 2008
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TUCSON, Ariz. – Although his pulse is so weak it is almost impossible to detect, Rafael Rivera is doing great. Only a few days after surgeons at University Medical Center opened his chest and attached a relatively new mechanical heart-assist device to his heart, Rivera is in good spirits and takes walks around the hospital.
Stricken with severe coronary artery disease, Rivera suffered a heart attack five years ago, when he was only 38. Thereafter, his damaged heart spiraled down into heart failure. On July 11, Jack G. Copeland, MD, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at UMC and co-director of the Sarver Heart Center at The University of Arizona, and his team implanted the HeartMate II as a bridge-to-transplant device.
This marks the first time the HeartMate II has been used at UMC. The assist device takes over the pumping work from Rivera’s heart, restoring blood flow and preventing deleterious consequences of heart failure, such as multiple organ failure. 
Unlike most other heart-assist devices, in which pulses of pressurized air rhythmically pump the blood around the body, the small and lightweight HeartMate II houses a fast-spinning turbine that circulates the blood continuously. Because the device generates a continuous blood flow, Rivera has almost no detectible pulse.
“Mr. Rivera was in severe heart failure and we had to buy him time until he can receive a heart transplant,” says Dr. Copeland. “Because of certain antibodies in his immune system, he will require a highly specific match for a donor heart, which can take awhile.”
In the meantime, the heart-assist device will allow Rivera to leave the hospital and resume his daily activities. Unlike other assist devices, which require patients to stay at the hospital, the small size of the HeartMate II and its streamlined support system allows patients to retain a high level of mobility. The spinning rotor pump is powered through an electronic controller, worn outside the body, and a couple of batteries that the patient can wear in two holsters. The HeartMate II is intended for long-term support as a bridge to transplant.
EDITORS PLESE NOTE: Dr. Copeland is only available TODAY, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. For interview requests with Rivera and/or Dr. Copeland, please contact Daniel Stolte at (520) 626-4083. Broadcast-quality video and still photographs of the HeartMate II device are available upon request.