Heart Pumps, Not Just a Bridge

DT, or destination therapy, refers to the implantation of heart pumps as permanent treatment for advanced heart failure.

Until recently, these pumps – which help the heart pump blood to the body more efficiently – were most often used to bridge the gap until patients could get a transplant. “Although heart transplantation has been viewed as the gold standard for heart failure, there are simply not enough hearts to go around,” says Robert Bourge, M.D., director of UAB Cardiovascular Diseases. “There are an estimated 550,000 new cases of heart failure each year.”

Bourge recently helped create advanced practice guidelines for DT as part of a nationwide group of cardiac experts who have collectively implanted and treated more than 900 patients with DT.