My Life at 9200 rpm's: Who gets an LVAD?

I came across an on line article concerning the selection of candidates for LVADs.  How do you get one? Who decides?  What are the criteria?

Do you have to be at death's door before you can get one?

Here is the article from the online Journal of the American College of Cardiology that discusses what goes into the mix in making the decision.  http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1555246

As noted before in these narratives, the ranks of sufferers with congestive heart failure swell by approximately 500,000 Americans a year.  Some 300,000 succumb to the disease. 

One point the JACC article made is that LVADs are gaining on the "gold standard" heart transplant, enabling surgeons and cardiologists to save more lives.  There simply are not enough donor hearts available.  But LVADs, while costly, are the best mechanical circulation support therapy available in 2013.

There is a bar graph showing the number of heart transplants per year for several years remains relatively stable while LVADs are being implanted at a growing rate.  The number of available donor hearts has remained in the 2,200 plus range for the last five years.  
LVADs have been implanted at a growing rate over the same period. At the rate LVADs are being implanted, the number will surpass the number of heart transplants quite soon.  I take from this that more people are being saved by LVAD therapy and technology.

I

   tried

            to include

                             a graphic

                                           from the article.

                                                                     But positioning proved

                                                                             a challenge.


                           (See below).

                          

 The figure at the right is from the JACC article and shows the increase in LVAD use from 2006 to 2010, the last year for which information was available.  The article has many other aspects,  I chose to focus on this one.

         

My life at 9200 rpm's: Congestive Heart failure LVAD therapies are available around the globe

As I was looking around the LVAD blog arena, I found a presentation from a Singapore hospital's account of congestive heart failure.  The narrative was on a fellow bloggers site but I felt no compunction in appropriating it for a wider readership.  

After all, the bigger the audience, the more the word will spread. Here's the link:  http://mountelizabeth.com.sg/en/Facilities-Services/Specialties-and-Specialised-Services/Heart-Failure-and-LVAD

I have been told that the folks at HeartWare cover more of the world outside the United States.  Their LVAD is smaller than my HeartMate II.  The associated gear is more compact and lighter to carry.

At any rate, the link above is for a hospital in Singapore, the former British possession at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. The point is that those who may benefit from mechanical circulatory support therapy can get it worldwide.

Read and spread the word.  There is help for those suffering CHF.  Drugs can help until the disease progresses too far. The recourse for those in end stage heart failure is either an LVAD or a heart transplant.  

But since the number of donor hearts is limited, the best hope is an LVAD.  Not everyone is an acceptable candidate for the device.  Pass the word that LVADs work.  I am symptom free and living life so I endorse the therapy unreservedly.

My Life at 9200 rpm's: Helpful LVAD communities on the web

The longer I have my LVAD, the more worthwhile I find that sharing experience of life with a mechanical circulatory support device/LVAD can help others.  

Those thinking about getting an LVAD, for those who, for lack of time to consider the option because death is around the corner, and wakeup to find they have an LVAD, and for those somewhere in-between, here are some resources that you may find helpful.  

I got my LVAD almost three years ago and had little choice in the matter.  If I wanted to remain alive, a HeartMate II, was the only option.

Facebook has several groups I belong to:

LVAD Warriors,

LVAD Inc. and Beyond, and

LVAD Friends.

The posts are current, relevant, encouraging, and helpful. Some of the posts will make you glad. Others share brutal, sad reality.  The point is, these are places to share: triumphs, setbacks, daily living-- "the full catastrophe" as Anthony Quinn, acting in the 1964 movie  Zorba the Greek said.  

Zorba seemed to mean experiencing all of life not thinking a catastrophe was certain disaster. Having an LVAD is not the end, the unraveling, but another phase of living.  Celebrate. 

Any person with an LVAD, no matter what the brand, and all those with an interest can join.  You need approval from the moderator. Search for them on Facebook and contact the moderator.

Google search for left ventricular assist devices and take your pick.

I visit MyLVAD.com often.  The forum section has plenty of practical information based on experience that only comes from having the LVAD experience. Take what you like and leave the rest. 

Another spot I visit is WebMD.com.  Thoratec and HeartWare each have websites that have useful information but no sharing in the Facebook sense.

The point is to have a place to share.  By sharing, I find comfort and hope.  I am not alone.