Surgeons at Virtua Health, a five-hospital system based in Camden, N.J., successfully performed its first left ventricular assist device implantation, the system announced July 1.
The procedure is a form of specialized cardiac care in which the device acts independently to pump blood through the left ventricle, taking over the work for a heart that might be failing to do so. Virtua Health claims it is the largest health system throughout New Jersey to be certified to perform the procedure.
"Our goal is to continually expand our capabilities and capacity so that South Jersey residents can receive highly specialized care close to home," Tolulope Agunbiade, MD, medical director of Virtua’s Advanced Heart Failure Center said in the news release.
The system has five heart failure program sites in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties, in addition to its Camden hospital site.
The patient from the inaugural LVAD procedure is recovering well, according to the release.
"Our goal is to offer more advanced therapies…we focus on heart function, not heart failure," Dr. Agunbiade said.