Fast Facts:

According to the American Heart Association:

• 2,016 and 2,127 heart transplants were performed in the United States in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
• Heart failure affects nearly five million Americans of all ages and is responsible for more hospitalizations than all forms of cancer combined.
• Over 550,000 new cases of heart failure will be diagnosed in the next year.

Overview

Educational Resources

About Heart Failure

Heart failure is a condition of the heart in which the heart muscle becomes weak, requiring the heart to work harder to pump blood through the body. According to the American Heart Association, heart failure is not necessarily a sudden or dramatic change:

"Heart failure develops following injury to the heart such as the damage caused by a heart attack, long-term high blood pressure, or an abnormality of one of the heart valves. The weakened heart must work harder to keep up with the demands of the body, which is why people with heart failure often complain of feeling tired."

In fact, many victims of heart failure may not even realize the implications that their symptoms indicate.

End-Stage Heart Failure

End-stage heart patients are those whose hearts are irreversibly damaged and can not be treated by medical or surgical means other than a heart transplant. Unfortunately, the need for hearts for transplantation far outweighs their availability. The American Heart Association states that thousands more heart patients each year would benefit from transplantation, but do not receive it due to low availability of hearts.

Heart transplantation is in high demand, however it is severely limited due to the short supply of donor organs. About 4,000 donor hearts are available in the world each year - thousands short of the number required. Yet, transplantation is the only widely practiced long-term treatment for heart patients suffering from end-stage heart failure.

Note: The information contained within this web site is not intended to substitute for professional advice from doctors or medical practitioners. Rather, it is a resource to improve understanding of heart failure and how it can be treated.

*The Novacor LVAS was not FDA approved in the United States for the Destination Therapy indication The Levacor VAD is not yet available for clinical use.

Managing Heart Failure

Many heart failure patients live with medical therapy treatment and changes in lifestyle and diet. For patients with more severe heart failure, like congestive heart failure, implantable Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) like WorldHeart's pioneering Novacor® LVAS have gained acceptance as viable alternatives to conventional drug and surgical therapies. As the U.S. Department of Health confirms, most instances of heart failure involve the left ventricle:

"Heart failure develops over time as the pumping action of the heart grows weaker. It can affect the left side, the right side, or both sides of the heart. Most cases involve the left side where the heart cannot pump enough oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body."

Heart-assist devices, such as WorldHeart's pioneering Novacor® LVAS, and the next-generation Levacor VAD under development are designed to offer end-stage heart failure patients the opportunity to live more complete, normal, and active lives by providing a bridge to transplant (BTT) or destination therapy (DT)*.

The LVAS maintains and, in many instances, improves a transplant-eligible patient's health until a donor heart becomes available (called a Bridge-to-Transplant indication for use). The Novacor LVAS was approved for this indication in North America, Europe, and Japan. The Novacor® LVAS has also provided dependable long-term support to those European and Japanese patients not eligible for transplant (known as Alternative-to-Transplant, or Destination Therapy*). In 2008, WorldHeart discontinued sale of the Novacor LVAS. We are presently focused to start in the second half of 2009 a U.S. clinical trial for our next-generation Levacor VAD for a Bridge-To-Transplant indication.

If you have additional questions about your treatment and how WorldHeart products can help, please contact your physician. If you seek further information about World Heart Corporation and its products, please browse this web site, review our Educational Resources section, or Contact Us.

*Not FDA approved for this indication in the United States.

Stay Informed

For an easy to understand and informative description of various types of heart problems and disease and their causes, we recommend the Annual Heart and Stroke Facts Report from the American Heart Association. Click here for links to these and other heart failure resources on the web.