At Riley Children’s Health, our heart program offers ventricular assist devices (VAD) for infants, children, teens and young adults. These devices assist with severe heart failure.
What are Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs)?
What are Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs)?
A ventricular assist device (VAD) is a small pump that can be placed inside or outside the body. The VAD helps the heart work and move blood.
Most often, VADs support children with heart failure needing a heart transplant (known as “bridge-to-transplant”). They can support a child as they wait weeks to months for a heart transplant. VADs also help children recover from acquired heart diseases. The devices give their heart time to heal (“bridge-to-recovery”).
A VAD can also be described as mechanical circulatory support. In addition to VADs, Riley Children’s offers other mechanical circulatory support such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and cardiopulmonary bypass (heart-lung machine).
Who needs a VAD?
Infants, children, teens, or young adults with severe heart failure may need a VAD. The causes of heart failure include congenital heart defects, cardiomyopathies, or arrhythmias. The reasons for a VAD depend on your child’s heart health needs and whether they need temporary or long-term.
How is a VAD placed in my child’s chest?
How is a VAD placed in my child’s chest?
To place a VAD for your child’s heart, skilled heart surgeons do open-heart surgery. Your child will be under general anesthesia during the surgery. The surgeon makes an incision into your child’s chest and carefully places the device near their heart. The operation can last 4 to 6 hours or longer for a total artificial heart.
During the procedure, a heart-lung bypass machine will take over the job of your child’s heart and lungs.. Your child will be taken off the heart-lung machine once the VAD device is connected and turned on.
What types of VADs does Riley Children’s offer?
At Riley Children’s, our heart program has extensive experience with VADs for end-stage heart diseases. We are one of the few capable of implanting total artificial hearts. Depending on your child’s size, age, and condition, the following are some options:
- Left ventricular assistance device (LVAD) to help the left side of your child’s heart pump blood to the body.
- HeartMate 3 System™: We are one of the few heart programs nationally that has expanded the use of the HeartMate 3 in our patient population.
- Berlin Heart EXCOR®: Riley Children’s was the first pediatric hospital in Indiana to use the Berlin Heart. Watch: The road to the FDA-approved Berlin Heart in the US
- Right ventricular assist device (RVAD) to help the right side of your child’s heart pump blood to the lungs.
- Biventricular assist device (BiVAD) to help the left and right side of your child’s heart pump blood to the body and lungs.
- Total artificial heart (TAH) replaces your child’s own ventricles and valves and pumps blood to the rest of the body.
Follow-up care and management
The amount of time a VAD stays in place varies between days and weeks, and some may be needed for a year or more. Our team will discuss all expectations for the procedure with you and your family before the procedure.
Pediatric heart surgeons place VADs in children. After surgery, a full team of experts, including heart doctors and nurses assist with care. This includes helping with daily device needs.
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