Page 18 - Demo

Heart & Vascular Health |
With LVAD,
I can do so much more
Bill Coughlin won’t let heart failure stop him from enjoying life.
Bill Coughlin enjoyed the life of an active retiree, puttering in the garden, tackling renovations on his home in Pike Creek and enjoying long walks with his wife, Janice, during vacations to Assateague Island. “We would walk on the beach for miles,” he said.
But a history of heart problems cast a shadow on his otherwise sunny existence. He had a heart attack, followed by triple bypass surgery.
For years, doctors treated his heart with medications. He watched his diet and stayed as active as he could.
But the medications became less effective, and Coughlin developed heart failure, a condition in which the heart can’t pump enough blood to keep up with the body’s demands.
“It was only a matter of time,” he said. “I couldn’t walk any distance or do much of anything.”
The team at the Heart Failure Program at Christiana Care’s Center for Heart & Vascular Health helped Coughlin and his family weigh their options. They suggested a left ventricle assist device, or LVAD, a mechanical pump that supports heart functionandbloodflowinpeoplewhohaveweakenedhearts.
“Basically, it replaces the left side of the heart and improves survival of patients, compared to IV medicines,” says Sourin Banerji, M.D., a heart failure specialist at Christiana Care.
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or as a destination therapy.
here are three scenarios in which a patient can benefit from an LVAD: as an interim device to another treatment; as a bridge to a heart transplant;
For Coughlin, other treatments or a transplant were not options. He was 76, past the cut-off age of 70 for a transplant. Other treatments also were not a good fit.
An LVAD would help his failing heart do its job. Still, adjusting to the device is not easy. There are batteries to change. The patient has to adjust to carrying a bag with the battery pack outsidethebody. CONTINUED
left ventricular assist device