The Texas Heart Institute is a world leader in the development, testing and application of heart assist devices. One goal of the surgical research conducted here is to develop and determine the best assist device to use for each individual patient.

The adjacent list describes devices currently in use at THI as well as those of historical interest.

"The devices we've been developing and testing are either ventricular assist devices or artificial hearts. They are all pumps of some type, but they each work differently for a specific function," explains Dr. Frazier, who has been instrumental in the development of many of the devices.

See also on this website:

•  HeartMate II Approved as Advanced-Stage Heart Failure Treatment Option
THI played a significant role in clinical studies leading to FDA approval of left-ventricular assist device as a bridge-to-transplantation therapy. (News release April 24, 2008)

•  Patient Recovers Heart Function with Mechanical Assist Device
ABC Good Morning America: (6 min. video) Report features the successful removal of an experimental heart assist device that supported Salina Gonzales until she regained function in her failing heart. Drs. Roberta Bogaev and Bud Frazier are featured. (April 2008)

•  A news story, "New Generation of Pumps a Blessing for Sick Hearts," featuring Dr. Bud Frazier was published in the Houston Chronicle–August 30, 2007.

•  Read the story of Peter Houghton and his 7 years with a permanent heart assist device.

•  View the 5-minute video interview with Dr. Reynolds Delgado discussing the TandemHeart™ in Clinical Practice.

•  Physicians can refer to the online course available on the THI CME site, The Cardiologist’s New Frontier: Mechanical Support for Heart Failure, posted in April 2006.

Updated April 2008