March 27, 2008

• Ringing triangle marks new beginning

• Triangle and baton mounted in HTICU

• Made possible by LVAD support group

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The ringing of a triangle might not mean much to the average person but to UAB heart pump recipients, it signals a new beginning.

Patients who receive a heart pump, or left ventricular assist device (LVAD), at UAB now ring a triangle as they leave the hospital marking their new lease on life.

"It's been a longstanding tradition in the heart transplant intensive care unit (HTICU) that heart transplant patients ring a bell when they are discharged home. When LVAD patients leave the unit, they too are beginning a new chapter in their life and we wanted to recognize that new start," said Salpy Pamboukian, M.D., medical director of the Mechanical Circulatory Support Device (MCSD) program at UAB.

Former LVAD patient and heart transplant recipient Sherri Selph, who spent seven years on a heart pump, stepped in to help and bring about a triangle dedicated to the LVAD program. Selph started UAB's first support group for VAD patients in 2007 and she, along with other members of the group, raised the money for the LVAD plaque now hanging in UAB's HTICU.

A plaque engraved with "A Bridge to Life" with a triangle and baton hanging on it, is mounted across from one of the nurses stations, just down from the bell heart transplant recipients ring when they leave. Selph, though she turned in her VAD for a heart in January 2006, was the first person to ring the triangle.

Pamboukian, along with LVAD support group members in attendance at the unveiling of the plaque and triangle, agreed that was fitting. Selph is believed to be the longest-surviving person in the United States - and one of the longest-surviving in the world - to be helped by an LVAD.

Before her transplant Selph was the last surviving REMATCH patient still on a Thoratec Heartmate® VE Left Ventricular Assist System heart pump. The REMATCH, or Randomized Evaluation of Mechanical Assistance in Congestive Heart Failure, clinical trial was performed during the late 1990s at 22 academic medical centers across the country. REMATCH compared two treatment options for congestive heart failure: the traditional medication regimen, versus an implantable heart pump.

An LVAD resembles a compact disk player and is surgically implanted within the abdominal wall. A tube attaches to the left ventricle and channels blood from the heart and a pump then propels the blood through another tube attached to the aorta, taking the work off the left ventricle of the heart. A power line penetrates the skin to connect the pump to external batteries, worn in a vest. VADs have the ability to extend the life of patients with end-stage heart failure and many patients who have been told that they have no other options and will die have received an LVAD and returned to an excellent quality of life. LVADs used to only be used as a bridge to transplant but are now destination therapy.