An Atlanta-based Emory University Hospital team became the first in the U.S. to perform a surgical implantation of magnetically levitated ventricular assist device.
Led by Mani Daneshman, MD, the procedure took place Nov. 18 as part of a clinical trial for BrioHealth Solutions' BrioVAD System, according to a Nov. 25 news release from Emory University.
The device employs a magnetically levitated pump to provide mechanical circulatory support and pump blood from the lower heart chambers to the rest of the body, the release said.
Other U.S. institutions participating in the clinical trial for the device are Cleveland Clinic, Durham, N.C.-based Duke University and the University of Chicago.
The aim for the BrioVAD system is for the device to be used instead of transplant, as a bridge to transplant or for heart recovery support, the release said.
Surgeons at Cincinnati-based The Christ Hospital recently performed the fourth successful U.S. implantation of the titanium BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart as part of the FDA's early feasibility study.