<unk>  <unk>  is a mechanical<unk>  that provides Mechanical Circulatory Support (MCS) in patients with advanced heart failure.<unk>  therapy has shown improved outcome and survival in heart failure patients compared to pharmacological therapy alone. These<unk> s are commonly used as a Bridge-to-Transplant (BTT) in heart transplant eligible patients or as a Destination Therapy (DT) in patients ineligible for heart transplant.<unk> s are indicated for either short-term use in patients recovering from heart attacks or heart surgery or for long-term use (months to years and in some cases for life) in patients suffering from end-stage heart failure.
Over the years, significant development has been made to create miniaturized<unk> s with increased durability, reliability and lesser noise emission. Newer (third generation)<unk> s are Continuous Flow (CF) pumps with lesser complications compared to the older (first generation)<unk> s that were large and had pulsatile-flow pumps.
Depending on the heart chamber that needs MCS,<unk> s can be used as Left<unk> s (LVADs), Right<unk> s (RVADs) or BiVentricular<unk><unk> s (BiVADs).
Some<unk> s are percutaneous or transcutaneous (Impella, TandemHeart) while others are implantable (HeartMate II, HeartMate III), that allow patients to be fully mobile.
Ongoing research in<unk>  development is being focused on eliminating the need for a driveline, better surgical approaches and strategies for telemetric assessment of<unk>  function and remote charging of batteries.
Ventricular assist device
Artificial heart
Intra-aortic balloon pump
Pericardial window
Artificial respiration
Dextrocardia surgery
Medical ventilator
Machine perfusion