Mayo Clinic Minute: How ventricular assist devices can help heart patients

An LVAD or Left Ventricular Assist Device is implanted in patients to help pump blood. A control unit with a battery pack is worn outside the body. Patients who might benefit from placement of an LVAD include those waiting for a heart transplant or those patients who have heart failure but aren't eligible for a heart transplant due to age. These devices are put in people so they can live their life. It's not meant to put in just to be alive.

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