According to NPR, doctors at the Texas Heart Institute have created a device which uses ventricular assist devices (VADs) to move blood throughout the body using whirling rotors.

The catch? Patients who choose this procedure are left without a heartbeat or pulse.

To learn more about this artificial heart technology, I spoke with Dr. Bud Frazier at the Texas Heart Institute. Below is an excerpt of our conversation.

SP: How was this procedure different from other artificial heart procedures?

This procedure involved two separate pumps implanted after removing the native heart. It resulted in an intra-pericardial continuous flow cardiac replacement, and the patient had no way of generating a pulse. Because the pumps were placed inside the pericardium, it is deemed a pulseless intrapericardial cardiac replacement.

SP: How does the pulse-less heart work? What makes a continuous pump different than other artificial hearts?

Because it has continuous flow, this pump can be made smaller and operationally simpler. One of our main reasons for pursing this instead of using the pulsatile devices used in the past is because the pumps are more durable and reliable. They are also much less prone to infection or stroke. I was the first to implant this particular pump in 2003, and it has never been pumped to failure. We had a patient with such a pump for greater than seven years without evidence of malfunction. All of the pulsatile pumps that we developed and used in the past stopped working within two years.

SP: What are the challenges that await with the pulse-less heart? What needs to be changed and fixed in order for the FDA to approve the heart?

We need to develop a pump designed specifically for cardiac replacement. Those used in the procedure are assist pumps that were designed for partial heart assist. In the future, we require time, money, and the engineering expertise to refine this technology to comply with the FDA standards. Although this is much more than a simple Kitty Hawk experiment, more effort needs to be applied to obtain these goals.

Image: via Texas Heart Institute

Related links: Heart With No Beat Offers Hope Of New Lease On Life

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com