Help for Failing Hearts

Veteran medical device executive Doug Godshall ’86 heads a firm whose latest innovation may prove a boon to those who suffer from heart failure.

HeartWare Inc., headquartered in Massachusetts and Sydney, Australia, makes a miniature left ventricle assist device, a surgically implanted mechanical pump designed to supplement a failing heart’s reduced blood-pumping capability. A clinical trial of the device for use as a bridge to cardiac transplant in patients with end-stage heart failure is under way in the United States.

“Traditionally, other pumps are very large and are placed in the abdomen. Ours fits in the pericardial space, the area immediately adjacent to the heart, which requires only rib-cage surgery,” Godshall explains. “Because we are using a pre-existing space, we don’t have to create a pocket to put the pump in, which can get infected. We reduce the amount of surgery required, which reduces complications.”

An international clinical trial was completed in Europe and Australia.