Cheney Hospitalized

[teko]

In ICU after undergoing a procedure to insert a pump to help his heart. He has Congestive heart failure and this will bridge the gap until he can get a heart transplant. Anyone hear the facts on this?

[teko]

I think it is wondrous what they can do today in this kind of technology. I find myself wondering tho how I could cope knowing a little pump was what was keeping my ticking and for how long. I mean to know that this is it, nothing more can be done is downright frightening!

[swampcritter]

Nevertheless, the medical technology of a device to help with congestive heart failure is interesting. CHF is a killer and if there is a device that saves a marginal heart that should be better known. Wonder how common such devices are, and how well they work?

[mikesimon]

Some centers tend not to transplant patients over the age of 65 but recently many centers have expanded their criteria so that older patients who formerly would not have been considered candidates may qualify today.

Maryland Heart Center
Possible Exclusion Criteria
The following factors may exclude people from receiving a heart transplant:
   * Age of more than 65 years.

Duke
Heart transplantation is considered for individuals only after all other available treatments have been tried, and optimized, and the therapies have failed to prevent further deterioration.

Improvement in technique and outcome have greatly expanded the criteria for heart transplant recipients so that patients into their mid-70s may be considered for transplant.

Mike

[R Glass]

I don’t know if there is an age cut off limit but if it were, it wouldn’t apply here.
I doubt they have to abide by the same rules that we peasants do.

[teko]

I am not sure what the qualifications are for heart transplant. Is he not eligible due to his age ya think? 10 months is not that long! My heart goes out to anyone having problems like this, regardless of their political shortcomings. lol  I truly wish him well with years of life ahead of him.

[R Glass]

Regardless of what the feelings are for Cheney, we should wish him the best. As much as I disliked Ted Kennedy and wanted him to go away, I took no pleasure in his death.

WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:57pm EDT
(Reuters) - Former Vice President **** Cheney, who has a long history of heart problems, said on Wednesday he has had a new heart pump implanted.
"A few weeks ago, it became clear that I was entering a new phase of the disease when I began to experience increasing congestive heart failure," Cheney, 69, said in a statement.
"After a series of recent tests and discussions with my doctors, I decided to take advantage of one of the new technologies available and have a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) implanted," he said.

"The LVAD is a small implantable pump that improves heart function and will enable me to resume an active life."
Cheney, who has had five heart attacks, the latest in February, said the surgery went well and he was recuperating.
LVADs helps maintain the pumping ability of a heart that cannot work effectively on its own. They are usually implanted only in patients with severe heart failure and are nicknamed a "bridge to transplant", according to the American Heart Association.
Congestive heart failure is a chronic condition that develops as the heart loses its ability to pump properly and gradually enlarges.
Cheney previously had a defibrillator implanted to monitor his heart and shock it back into a normal rhythm if abnormal beating occurred. It was replaced in 2007 because of a low battery.

Studies have shown LVADs reduce the risk of death in end-stage heart failure patients by 50 percent, extending the average life span from 3.1 months to more than 10 months.