The "Extra-VAD" jointly developed by Wuhan Union Medical College and magAssist Inc. was put into clinical use

On July 20th, Union Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (hereinafter referred to as "Wuhan Union Hospital") announced on a press conference that MoyoAssist Extracorporeal Ventricular Assist Device, jointly developed by the hospital and magAssist Inc. has been put into clinical use. The clinical use is a meaningful milestone as there could be more opportunities for life survival. Most of the time, heart transplant patients are at high risk during their wait for donor hearts; therefore, it is essential to gain more time for patients, and MoyoAssist is designed to help win more time for patients. In the mentioned case, the patient has completed a heart transplant in the hospital and now able to live life normally again.  

The department of Cardiovascular Surgery of Wuhan Union Hospital and magAssist have spent three years to develop Extra-VAD. Prof. NianGuo Dong, Director of the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of Wuhan Union Hospital, revealed that the device can be used for heart failure, temporarily providing cardiac pumping functions to heart failure patients who are in severe conditions. He also introduced that ventricular assist devices are divided into implantable internal artificial hearts and external artificial hearts, both of which use artificial heart pumps to replace ventricular function and maintain blood circulation partially or fully. The difference is that internal artificial hearts are used in patients with end-stage chronic heart failure to replace their heart function for a long time. The external artificial heart is used as a transitional treatment for patients with acute heart failure and plays the role of replacing the heart function in the short and medium term, so that the patient can survive the dangerous period and be able to perform heart transplantation in a short period of time.