Samsung Medical Center(SMC), Achieve 20 cases of artificial heart transplantation.

Heart failure team at Cardiac Center in Heart Vascular Stroke Institute in Samsung Medical Center(SMC), achieved 20 cases of 'Left Ventricular Assist  Device (LVAD) implantation' in September for the first in Korea. It has only been six years since it succeeded  in the first 'Korean's first second-generation artificial heart transplantation ( Implantable Continuous Flow Left Ventricular Assist Device)' by the team of Professor Lee Young-Tak,cardiac surgery and Professor Jeon Eun-seok, cardiology in 2012. LVAD is an implantable blood pump. It is called LVAD as it is often installed in the left ventricle. LVAD is installed between the left ventricle and the aorta and operated by pumping blood from the left ventricle to the aorta. As it is powered by electricity, the wires run through the skin and connect to a battery or other power source. The artificial heart is regarded as the 'last bastion' that sustains life for patients who are waiting for a heart transplant due to terminal heart failure or severe heart failure who are difficult to undergo heart transplantation due to other diseases. The heart failure team has been recognized for its excellency following their success ' Korea's first the second-generation artificial heart transplant' in 2012 and ' Korea's first the third-generation artificial heart transplantation' for terminal heart failure in 2015. The team currently holds the largest number of artificial heart transplant cases in Korea with 26 cases, while also maintaining the record on zero percent early mortality rate, the longest surviving patient, and the first successful minimally invasive artificial heart transplant.