For patients with severe heart failure that cannot be controlled with medicine, a pacemaker or other treatments, a ventricular assist device can be an option. Dr. Robert Scott, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, explains how this mechanical pump can help some patients continue to have a full and active life.
"Typically, when people have heart failure, what you're really speaking about is the left side of the heart being unable to effectively deliver blood to the body to meet all the needs of the body," says Dr. Scott.
When that happens, a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, can be implanted in patients to help pump blood.
