News - Local
Local hospital has new heart assisting pump
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 11:26 AM by Greg Boyce
Updated: Feb 4, 2010 11:26 AM
The Penrose-St. Francis Health System hospitals in Colorado Springs now have a heart assisting pump which can help a patient's heart circulate blood to the body.
The pump, called TandemHeart, can be placed rapidly by both cardiologists in a cath lab or by cardiac surgeons in an operating room to provide short-term circulatory support. The device attaches to a leg and pumps blood for critically ill patients. Up to five liters of blood per minute can be circulated through the pump in a catheterization lab--more in an operating room.
Five liters is about the average amount of blood in a human body.
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