Six-year in-vitro reliability results of the HeartWare HVAD pump.

As a result of stagnant heart transplantation rates, ventricular assist devices (VADs) have become a widely accepted therapy for the treatment of advanced-stage heart failure. Long-term reliability of VADs will become increasingly vital as the population of destination therapy patients expands. In this study, eight HVAD pumps (n = 8) completed a 6-year reliability test in the HeartWare Life Cycle Testing System, an in-vitro mock circulatory loop that simulated physiologic pressures and flows. Cumulative runtime for the pumps was 2,408 +/- 60 days. During this time, no device failures of any type occurred. These results strongly support the durability of the pump design.