Loyola earns Joint Commission certification for heart pump therapy

Loyola University Hospital has been certified by the Joint Commission to begin implanting heart pumps known as left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as permanent therapy for advanced heart failure.

Since 1988, Loyola University Hospital has been implanting LVADs to keep patients alive while they waited for heart transplants. Now, in addition to performing such "bridge-to-transplant" procedures, the hospital will implant LVADs as "destination therapy" for patients who do not qualify for heart transplants.

The Joint Commission conducted a comprehensive evaluation of Loyola's LVAD program, including a review of policies and procedures, physician and staff credentials, administrative infrastructure and quality and outcome data of LVAD recipients.

The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to meeting certain performance standards.

Joint Commission certification will clear the way for Medicare coverage of destination LVAD therapy at Loyola University Hospital.

"This is an important milestone in our comprehensive treatment of heart failure patients," said Katherine Lietz, MD, PhD, medical director of the hospital's Heart Failure Device Program. "For patients with end-stage heart failure who have no other options, destination LVAD therapy can increase survival and dramatically improve quality of life."

Studies have found that the vast majority of LVAD patients experience nearly complete reversal of heart failure symptoms. Consequently, these patients breathe easier, feel more energy and less fatigue. Many are able to travel, resume leisure activities and return to work.

An LVAD circulates blood when the heart is too weak to pump blood on its own. The device attaches to the heart and assists or takes over the pumping function of the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart. Perhaps the best known patient is former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Each year in the United States, between 100,000 and 300,000 patients with end-stage heart failure potentially could benefit from cardiac replacement therapy. But due to a severe shortage of donor organs, fewer than 2,000 heart transplants are performed. Destination LVAD therapy could be the best option for patients who are not eligible for heart transplants.

"We need to increase public awareness about this life-saving treatment," Lietz said.